Nearly 60 percent say they would never vote for either former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) or real estate mogul Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

The latest numbers from Quinnipiac University found Palin and Trump to be the most polarizing figures among the litany of potential Republican presidential contenders next year.

Fifty eight percent of the poll's respondents said they "would never vote" for either of them.

The next closest on that score was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had 42 percent of respondents say they would never vote for him. Just 26 percent felt the same way about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and 32 percent said they wouldn't vote for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The poll found Romney ahead in the race for the nomination, but the numbers continue to show a muddled field with no clear front-runner.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, Romney leads with 18 percent, followed by Huckabee and Palin at 15 percent each.

Trump comes in with 12 percent, followed by Gingrich, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), all at 5 percent. 

The survey polled 1,408 registered voters and has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.

Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday he's voting for President Obama in 2012, but that Obama's former ambassador to China would make for a "very attractive" Republican nominee.

Carter told CNN that Jon Huntsman, the former Republican governor of Utah who resigned last Saturday as Obama's top diplomat in China, might make for Obama's best GOP challenger.

Carter said that Huntsman is "very attractive to me personally," but also said that his "intention is to vote for the Democratic candidate."

The former president isn't the first Democrat to offer Huntsman what could be considered a "kiss of death" for the potential Republican candidate; Obama himself has openly joked about what an asset Huntsman's service in a Democratic administration would be in a Republican primary, where conservatives dominate.

But Huntsman has taken the steps to at least lay the groundwork for running, if he chooses to pursue the nomination in 2012. He established a federal political action committee, H PAC, on Tuesday, and is set this month to take trips to New Hampshire and South Carolina, two key primary states.

One of Washington state's top Democrats is pouring cold water on the notion that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) could find a new home in his state next year.

Kucinich is doing little to tamp down rumors he could bolt Ohio and run for Congress elsewhere in 2012 if his district is eliminated in the redistricting process. One possibility is Washington state, which is gaining a seat next year.

But on Tuesday, Democratic state party Chairman Dwight Pelz called the Kucinich rumor "far-fetched" and said he didn't think Democrats would welcome a Kucinich move. 

"I think it's a fantasy," Pelz told The Ballot Box. "I just don't think voters are interested in seeing something like that happen."

Ohio is losing two congressional districts next year in the redistricting process, and Kucinich’s district is on the chopping block.

The eight-term lawmaker has said he plans to stay in Congress but doesn’t want to run against a colleague, prompting speculation he could move to an area with an open seat. Washington's new seat is likely to be centered in an area close to where Kucinich held a fundraiser last week.

“Well, I know he’s been here twice and the new district will be centered in a very liberal area, but I just don’t see how it makes sense,” Pelz said.

A majority of Democrats think the U.S. has accomplished its mission in Afghanistan and should bring American troops home. 

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The president's overall approval rating jumped 11 points from April, but only about one-third approve of his economic performance.

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Welcome to Bizarro Washington, where Republicans are trusted to lead on the economy and a Democratic president killed bin Laden.

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Obama is getting credit for the successful mission, which could have turned into a Republican victory if it had failed.

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Democrats shouldn’t seek to gain politically from the killing of Osama bin Laden, the party’s campaign chief in the House said Tuesday.

"I don’t believe we ought to be politicizing this," the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), told The Hill. "This is not something that ought to be interpreted as good or bad for any political party. It is good for the country."

A Washington Post/Pew Research poll released Tuesday showed a spike in President Obama’s approval ratings after he announced bin Laden’s death on Sunday night.

Analysts have predicted a short-term political benefit for Obama, but whether it lasts into the 2012 campaign will depend on a variety of factors.

While House Democrats trying to regain the majority in the lower chamber have little to no ground on which to claim credit for bin Laden’s ouster, stronger support for Obama at the top of the ballot could help House candidates in a presidential election year.

Democrats need a net gain of 25 seats to retake control of the House next year.

Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), a possible Republican candidate for president, said Tuesday that the U.S. should bring its troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan now that Osama bin Laden has been killed. 

Paul, a long-time skeptic of American interventionism, said that "like all other Americans, I'm glad he's gone," but raised multiple questions about the costs associated with the 10-year manhunt for the al Qaeda leader behind the 9/11 attacks. 

"If we got him, I guess it's time to come home as far as I'm concerned," he said during an interview with Fox Business network.

Unlike other GOP presidential hopefuls, Paul waited until Tuesday to offer his official response to bin Laden's slaying, which took place on Sunday.

The content of Paul's response also differed from the potential candidates. He did not credit President Obama or former President George W. Bush for the military's ability to carry out the attack.

"There's a little bit of luck in all of this," Paul said.

The congressman also expressed doubts that the killing would make the U.S. safer, saying that it "might stir up more hatred — not that we should have changed our mind about it."

He suggested that some might raise conspiracy theories about bin Laden's death due to the lack of photo or video evidence released.

Paul also expressed concerns about the casualties incurred by America in Iraq and Afghanistan, which number above 6,000, and the $1 trillion-plus spent on the wars, all while bin Laden remained in hiding.

"Why did it take 10 years to get one guy?" he said.

But like other lawmakers and politicians, Paul questioned the U.S.'s foreign aid to Pakistan, where bin Laden was hiding in a town close to the country's capital of Islamabad. The congressman, long an opponent of most foreign aid, said that he would vote to cut off assistance to Pakistan.

Amid a debate over how bin Laden's slaying will affect Obama's chances of reelection, Paul said that it likely won't have an effect on the 2012 campaign

"The American people shift their views rather quickly," he said, citing the fact that former President George H.W. Bush's failure to win reelection in 1992 followed the Persian Gulf War.

"I think economics will dominate the campaign next year ... I don't think there is any guarantee he will have smooth sailing next year at all."