George Allen has already held a debate with the Democratic rival in the 2012 Senate race, and judging by a new poll released Tuesday, he may not have to worry much about the other Republicans vying for the party nomination.
The most recent Public Policy Polling data shows that among primary voters polled, 67 percent feel he should be the party nominee, compared to 5 percent for Jamie Radtke, 3 percent for E.W. Jackson, and 2 percent each for Tim Donner and David McCormick. Also, 65 percent of primary voters polled think that he's ideologically about "right," compared to 25 percent who expressed support for a generic "more conservative" alternative. Overall, 53 percent of those polled said that Allen should be the party nominee.
Said PPP in a release: "There continues to be very little appetite for a Tea Party challenge to George Allen in the Republican Senate race. ... This is one GOP contest where there's just not a lot of desire for a challenger from the right."
Meanwhile, the poll also took a very early temperature of a possible matchup in the 2013 GOP primary for governor. Among those polled, Ken Cuccinelli garnered a lead over Bill Bolling, 44-25.
From PPP:
Both men are popular among Republican voters familiar with them but Cuccinelli is far better known with 73% of voters having an opinion about him to only 48% with one about Bolling. Cuccinelli is riding a huge advantage with Tea Party voters who favor him by 40 points, 58-18. Bolling leads by 25 points with moderates at 47-22, but there just aren't that many of them.
For more information on the poll, which was conducted with 350 Republican primary voters between Dec. 11-13, click here.
The survey has a margin of error of plus/minus 5.2 percent.
