Utahns prefer Romney to Huntsman in new poll

Utahns would rather see Mitt Romney than Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. in the White House, but they would support either Republican over President Barack Obama in 2012, a new Deseret News/KSL-TV poll shows.

A majority of Utahns, 55 percent, said they preferred Romney to their governor. But just 32 percent chose Huntsman over the former Salt Lake City Olympics leader who lost his bid for the GOP presidential nomination last year.

Both Romney and Huntsman would easily beat the Democratic president in Utah, the poll conducted Monday by Dan Jones & Associates found. The poll of 254 Utahns statewide has a margin of error of plus or minus 6.2 percent.

Asked about the results during an interview Wednesday with the Deseret News, Huntsman suggested they were little more than "fun reading."

"Republicans are pretty dominant," he said when pressed.

The governor had nothing but praise for Romney, who won Utah's GOP primary with 90 percent of the vote. Huntsman had backed the party's eventual nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Romney "is a good candidate. He's run once and will probably run again. And I probably won't," Huntsman said. "He's a good man and he's earned every bit of support he's gotten in the state. And I say that with all sincerity."

Huntsman has yet to say whether he's considering a run for president but has been attracting national attention as a potential candidate because of his push to make his party more moderate.

On Friday, he'll kick off the first of a half-dozen appearances in Michigan at Republican Party fundraisers. The governor has made similar visits to other key GOP primary states recently, including South Carolina.

He said the interest in him by the Washington Post, New York Times and other national media outlets "is symptomatic of a party that is struggling to redefine itself and truly listening to all ideas out there. There aren't that many Republican elected officials in a position to speak out."

Romney is a former governor of Massachusetts who also has yet to declare his political intentions. Since dropping out of the 2008 presidential race, he has stayed busy traveling the county on behalf of GOP candidates such as Utah Sen. Bob Bennett.

He has also spoken out in print and on television against some of Obama's initiatives, especially federal stimulus spending and bailouts for the auto industry. Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom had no comment on the Utah poll.

But Utah GOP vice chairman Todd Weiler said he's been anxious to see how Huntsman would fare against Romney in the state.

"This has been the subject of much discussion," Weiler said. "If the election were held today, I would expect that based on Romney's strong showing last February (in Utah's GOP primary) he would do very well. But don't count Huntsman out."