Latest GOP presidential poll has Pawlenty in fifth place

A new poll on GOP presidential hopefuls released this week has Gov. Tim Pawlenty in fifth place with 6 percent support.

In the Quinnipiac University poll, Pawlenty trails the usual gang of four:

• Palin        19%
• Huckabee 17%
• Gingrich   15%
• Romney   18%

And the poll finds that President Obama is currently “in a statistical dead heat with possible Republican challengers Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee … but leads Sarah Palin 48 [percent to] 40 percent.”

The poll also shows that, overall, American voters don’t think the president deserves a second term — 49 percent to 43 percent — but that Democrats (64 percent to 27 percent) don’t want anyone to challenge the president for the Democratic nomination.