Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Rasmussen poll released today is a departure from previous polls showing a close three-way race for the Republican nomination to challenge pro-abortion President Barack Obama in 2012. The survey shows pro-life former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with a clear lead.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds 29% of Republican voters nationwide say Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 presidential campaign.

The survey finds 24 percent prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who ran as a pro-life candidate in the 2008 GOP primaries while 18% would cast their vote for pro-life former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Looking at other potential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is pro-life, gets 14% of the vote while pro-life Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty gets 4%.

Six percent of Republican voters prefer some other candidate while 7% remain undecided.

"These numbers reflect an improvement for Huckabee since July when the three candidates were virtually even. Huckabee’s gain appears to be Palin’s loss as Romney’s support has barely changed," Rasmussen notes in its poll.

The numbers for Huckabee and Romney look even stronger when GOP voters were asked which candidate they would least like to see get the nomination.

Pawlenty came on top in that category with 28%. Palin was second at 21% while 20% named Gingrich. Romney and Huckabee were in the single digits with 9% and 8% respectively.

Huckabee and Romney are viewed favorably by 78% of Republican voters, Palin by 75%. Gingrich earns favorably reviews from 69% while Pawlenty is less well known and gets a positive assessment from 45% of Republicans.

Republican voters are very confident their nominee could be the next president and defeat Obama in what would be a bid for re-election in 2012. Eighty-one percent (81%) of the Republican voters surveyed say that it’s at least somewhat likely the Republican nominee will defeat him and 50 percent say it is very likely.

Rasmussen says there is a difference in how churchgoing and non-churchgoing Republicans view the prospective candidates.

"Romney leads all prospects among voters who attend church once a month or less. Huckabee leads among more frequent churchgoers," the polling firm notes.

"Huckabee holds a huge lead among Evangelical Christians with Palin in second and Romney a distant third. Huckabee and Romney are essentially even among other Protestants while Romney has the edge among Catholics."

This Rasmussen survey is the second in recent months showing movement in Huckabee's direction.

An August Public Policy Polling firm poll found Huckabee faring the best against Obama in a preview of the 2012 presidential election. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5385.html

The poll found Huckabee behind by just three percentage points, 47-44 percent while other candidates fared worse in potential matchups with Obama. Romney was seven percent behind Obama at 47-44 percent while Gingrich came in eight percent behind Obama at 49-41 percent. Palin was 14 percent behind at 52-38.

The previous Rasmussen poll had Romney leading Republican candidates with the backing of 25 percent of GOP voters, Palin in second with 24 percent and Huckabee getting 22 percent.

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