On average 16% of Democrats have a favorable opinion of Huckabee. That puts him a little bit ahead of Mitt Romney at 13% and well ahead of Newt Gingrich at 10% and Sarah Palin at 9%. Huckabee is either the most popular or tied as the most popular Republican across party lines in all seven states we’ve polled except Minnesota, where he finished just a point behind Romney.

You might look at those numbers and say that Huckabee would be clearly the best candidate for Republicans to get the sort of crossover support they need in 2012. But that’s actually not the case. In head to heads with Barack Obama in these seven states Huckabee averages earning 9% of the Democratic vote. Romney gets an equivalent 9%, Palin gets 8%, and Gingrich comes in at 7%.