George W. Bush pushed for a federal ban on same-sex marriage during his 2004 re-election run. But Bush has since said he favors civil unions, and now, days after President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, his pollster from that race is recommending Republicans come around on same-sex marriage and gay rights.

In a memo penned Friday and which made the rounds this weekend, Jan R. van Lohuizen writes, in part, “As people who promote personal responsibility, family values, commitment and stability, and emphasize freedom and limited government we have to recognize that freedom means freedom for everyone. This includes the freedom to decide how you live and to enter into relationships of your choosing, the freedom to live without excessive interference of the regulatory force of government."

Memorandum
From: Jan R. van Lohuizen
Date: 05/11/12
Re: Same Sex Marriage

Background: in view of this week’s news on the same sex marriage issue, here is a summary of recent survey findings on same sex marriage:

1. Support for same sex marriage has been growing and in the last few years support has grown at an accelerated rate with no sign of slowing down. A review of public polling shows that up to 2009 support for gay marriage increased at a rate of 1% a year. Starting in 2010 the change in the level of support accelerated to 5% a year. The most recent public polling shows supporters of gay marriage outnumber opponents by a margin of roughly 10% (for instance: NBC / WSJ poll in February / March: support 49%, oppose 40%).

2. The increase in support is taking place among all partisan groups. While more Democrats support gay marriage than Republicans, support levels among Republicans are increasing over time. The same is true of age: younger people support same sex marriage more often than older people, but the trends show that all age groups are rethinking their position.

3. Polling conducted among Republicans show that majorities of Republicans and Republican leaning voters support extending basic legal protections to gays and lesbians. These include majority Republican support for:

a. Protecting gays and lesbians against being fired for reasons of sexual orientation
b. Protections against bullying and harassment
c. Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
d. Right to visit partners in hospitals
e. Protecting partners against loss of home in case of severe medical emergencies or death
f. Legal protection in some form for gay couples whether it be same sex marriage or domestic partnership (only 29% of Republicans oppose legal recognition in any form).

Recommendation: A statement reflecting recent developments on this issue along the following lines:

“People who believe in equality under the law as a fundamental principle, as I do, will agree that this principle extends to gay and lesbian couples; gay and lesbian couples should not face discrimination and their relationship should be protected under the law. People who disagree on the fundamental nature of marriage can agree, at the same time, that gays and lesbians should receive essential rights and protections such as hospital visitation, adoption rights, and health and death benefits.

Other thoughts / Q&A:

Follow up to questions about affirmative action: “This is not about giving anyone extra protections or privileges, this is about making sure that everyone – regardless of sexual orientation – is provided the same protections against discrimination that you and I enjoy.”
Why public attitudes might be changing: “As more people have become aware of friends and family members who are gay, attitudes have begun to shift at an accelerated pace. This is not about a generational shift in attitudes, this is about people changing their thinking as they recognize their friends and family members who are gay or lesbian.”

Conservative fundamentals: “As people who promote personal responsibility, family values, commitment and stability, and emphasize freedom and limited government we have to recognize that freedom means freedom for everyone. This includes the freedom to decide how you live and to enter into relationships of your choosing, the freedom to live without excessive interference of the regulatory force of government."

Iowa's senior senator and prolific Tweeter, Republican Chuck Grassley, sent a harshly worded message Saturday that intentionally slighted the president.

Aides say Grassley personally Tweeted: "Constituents askd why i am not outraged at PresO attack on supreme court independence. Bcause Am ppl r not stupid as this x prof of con law."

While Grassley's Twitter account had been previously hacked, this time the use of the word "stupid" was his own. Aides say, "The Tweet is Sen. Grassley's. He is saying that it doesn't speak well of any constitutional law professor to not understand Marbury v Madison. The people understand the independence of the judiciary. So he thinks most Americans are smarter on the Constitution."

In a second Tweet, Grassley wrote,"Possibility of peace and freedom for Syria gets more remote as PresO plays along w the farce of Kofi Annans negotiatios (sic) there Barack wakeup."

In late September, while the political world was speculating about whether Chris Christie might jump into the GOP race and buzzing about First Michelle Obama shopping incognito at Target, Rick Santorum was quietly doing something of his own -- making money.

On Sept. 29 and 30, while he was mired in single digits in the polls and no one was giving him a chance to win the nomination, Santorum went and made $18,200 in two speeches, according to an amendment to his personal financial disclosure released today.

Santorum was paid $9,100 apiece speaking through the conservative Young America’s Foundation before the Institute of Management Accountants and before the Family Institute of Connecticut.

A look back at Santorum’s schedule for those two days shows no public events or campaigning.

In 2007, Mike Huckabee broke with the tradition of suspending giving paid speeches during campaigns when he hopped off the trail for several then-undisclosed speeches. He eventually lost the nomination, but got his own television show.

Santorum made between $1.4 and $1.6 million in the year-and-a-half reporting period before he launched his bid for president, according to his financial disclosure. But, on the trail, like Huckabee, he has lamented the personal financial cost of running for office.

As another round of voting takes place this week in the Republican presidential race – with 11 states holding Super Tuesday contests – a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that the combative and heavily scrutinized primary season so far has damaged the party and its candidates.

Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion.

Additionally, when asked to describe the GOP nominating battle in a word or phrase, nearly 70 percent of respondents – including six in 10 independents and even more than half of Republicans – answered with a negative comment.

Some examples of these negative comments from Republicans: "Unenthusiastic," "discouraged," "lesser of two evils," "painful," "disappointed," "poor choices," "concerned," "underwhelmed,” “uninspiring” and “depressed.”

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

And perhaps most significantly, the GOP primary process has taken a toll on the Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Mitt Romney, who is seen more unfavorably and whose standing with independents remains underwater.

“The primaries have not raised the stature of the party, nor enhanced the appeal of the candidates,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

“The word you’d have to use at this stage is: ‘Corrosive,’” McInturff adds.

The damage from the Republican primary season – in addition to a rising job-approval rating for President Obama and more optimism about the U.S. economy – has given Democrats an early advantage for November’s general election.

Indeed, the president’s job-approval rating now stands at 50 percent; Obama leads Romney in a hypothetical general-election match up by six points; and Democrats hold a five-point edge on the generic congressional ballot.

If this poll’s outlook on the 2012 race were a cocktail, Hart says, it would be “one part Obama, one part the economy, and three parts the Republican Party’s destruction.”

Bad news and good news for Romney
How damaging has the primary season – with all of its debates, attack ads and scrutiny -- been for the Republican Party?

Forty percent of all adults say the GOP contest so far has made them feel less favorable about the party, while 12 percent say they now have a more favorable impression. Forty-seven percent say it’s had no impact.

Even among Republicans, 23 percent maintain the primary season has given them a less favorable opinion of the party, versus 16 percent who say it’s been positive.

In addition, 55 percent of respondents – including 35 percent of Republicans – believe the Democratic Party does a better job than the GOP in appealing to those who aren’t hard-core supporters. Just 26 percent say the Republican Party does a better job on this front.

And it’s been damaging for Romney, too. In January’s NBC/WSJ poll, Romney’s favorable/unfavorable rating stood at 31 percent to 36 percent among all respondents (and 22/42 percent among independents).

But in this latest survey, it’s now 28 percent favorable and 39 percent unfavorable (and 22/38 percent among independents).

In fact, Romney’s image right now is worse than almost all other recent candidates who went on to win their party’s presidential nomination: Obama’s favorable/unfavorable ratio was 51/28 percent and John McCain’s was 47/27, in the March 2008 NBC/WSJ poll; John Kerry was at 42/30 at this point in 2004; George W. Bush was 43/32 in 2000; and Bob Dole was 35/39 in March 1996.

The one exception: Bill Clinton, in April 1992, was at 32/43 percent.

But there is also some good news for Romney in the poll, especially as it relates to his bid to capture the GOP presidential nomination.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

After his primary victories last Tuesday in Arizona and Michigan, the former Massachusetts governor leads the national Republican horserace, getting support from 38 percent of GOP voters, his highest-ever mark in the poll.

He’s followed by former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum at 32 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul tied at 13 percent.

In a race reduced to just two candidates, Romney leads Santorum by five percentage points, 50 to 45 percent.

In particular, Romney has improved his standing with Tea Party supporters, getting support from 44 percent of them in a two-way contest against Santorum.

And what’s more, 72 percent of Republicans say they would be satisfied if Romney becomes their party’s presidential nominee.

Obama’s improved political standing
When it comes to President Obama, the poll contains mostly good news. Fifty percent approve of his job – his highest mark in the NBC/WSJ survey since Osama bin Laden’s death – and 45 percent disapprove.

In a hypothetical general-election contest, he leads Romney by six points, 50 to 44 percent, winning independents (46-39 percent), women (55-37 percent) and those in the Midwest (52-42 percent).

Obama enjoys bigger leads over Paul (50 to 42 percent), Santorum (53 to 39 percent) and Gingrich (54 to 37 percent).

Bolstering Obama’s standing is increased optimism about the state of the U.S. economy.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

Forty percent believe the economy will improve during the next year, a three-point increase from January. And looking back at the economic recession, 57 percent say that the worst is behind us, while 36 percent say the worst is still to come.

Back in November, only 49 percent said the worst was behind us.

“President Obama is probably in the best political shape he’s been in since his initial year as president,” says Hart, the Democratic pollster.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted from Feb. 29 through March 3 of 800 adults (including 200 by cellphone), and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.5 percentage points. The poll also contains an oversample of 185 interviews to achieve a total of 400 GOP primary voters, and that margin of error is plus-minus 4.9 percentage points.

Chairman of the Rules Committee Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) announced on the House floor this morning that he is retiring.

Joshua Roberts / Getty Images

Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Committee on Rules announced he will not run for reelection February 29, 2012.

This is another blow to Republicans, who just lost Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) yesterday to retirement. But the move wasn't unexpected. Unlike Snowe's retirment, Dreier's was one of the worst-kept secrets on the Hill. 

Dreier joins a handful of other Republicans from California who are retiring as a result of redistricting. Dreier's district went away as a result of redistricting.

While a handful of members, who are in similar situations, are running in neighboring districts, Dreier had few other options.

In his floor speech, he said he made the decision, because Americans are asking for change in Congress.

"We all know that this institution has an abysmally low approval rating," Dreier said, "and the American people are asking for change in Congress. And so, I'm announcing today that I will leave the congress at the end of this year."

Dreier was first elected to Congress in 1980.  Now in his 16th term, he was considered a top choice in 2005 to take the Majority Leader position, which was instead given to Roy Blunt reportedly because of Dreier's more moderate views. Dreier has been chairman of the House Rules Committee -- which regulates House floor proceedings, debates and votes -- since 1999.

*** UPDATED AT 1:45 PM ET WITH COMMENT FROM RUBIO SPOKESMAN AND CORRECTS TIMELINE***

Quick: What religion is the son of Cuban exiles?

Answer: Roman Catholic, right? Right.

And also Mormon?

That’s right, Marco Rubio, the conservative senator on everyone’s short list for vice president, was a member of the LDS Church in his youth, BuzzFeed reports.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

When Rubio's family moved to a suburb of Las Vegas, many in his immediate family converted.

When Rubio's family moved to a suburb of Las Vegas, near cousins who were Mormon, many in his immediate family (but not his father) converted, including Marco. Rubio was baptized in the church when he was 8 and enthusiastically participated in the religion, according to the report.

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant tells First Read BuzzFeed is incorrect that "Rubio's steadfast participation in the Mormon church continued for several years—until his parents decided to move them to Miami." (*** UPDATE *** BuzzFeed has clarified: "The cousins said Rubio's participation in the Mormon church continued for several years, until his parents decided to move them to Miami—though Conant said the family left the church before leaving Nevada.")

In fact, Conant said, "He left the church when he was 11 or 12, he received his first communion in 1984 when he was 13, and they didn’t move back to Miami until the next year, in 1985."

BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins writes:

“The revelation adds a new dimension to Rubio's already-nuanced religious history—and could complicate his political future at a time when many Republicans see him as the odds-on favorite for the 2012 vice presidential nod. Vice presidential candidates are traditionally chosen to provide ethnic and religious balance to a ticket. Mitt Romney's Mormonism and Rubio's Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history. Rubio's Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation.”

NBC Latino reports that a former Rubio campaign staffer said this should have no bearing on whether the Florida senator's picked as VP and that he is a "devout Catholic":

“It should not affect it at all, that is totally unfair,” says Bertica Cabrera Morris, who ran Senator Rubio’s campaign in Central Florida and is a Senior Advisor to the Romney campaign, as well as a member of Romney’s Hispanic Steering Committee.

“Marco is a devout Catholic,” Cabrera Morris adds. “The first thing he did when he was confirmed as a Senator was have a Mass,” she adds. “His whole life is about faith.”

And Cabrera-Morris said:

"His family attended the church for a few years.  He went with his family.”

One of the cousins described Marco to BuzzFeed, though, as being “totally into it.”

“Over the years, he and his cousins frequented LDS youth groups, attended church most Sundays—often walking to the chapel because his mother didn't know how to drive—and latched on to the mainstream Mormon culture that was easily accessible in LDS-heavy Nevada.

“For example, when they were in elementary school, Rubio formed a singing group with Michelle and his sister that would put on performances for extended family. Their inspiration? The Osmonds, of course.”

But all that changed when the family was going to move to Miami.

“Rubio was just reaching high school age when his family relocated, and [cousin] Mo [Denis] speculates that their transition to an area with fewer Mormons likely took its toll.”

A Rubio spokesmantold BuzzFeed “that Rubio never requested to have his name removed from the LDS Church's records, which means officially, the church is likely still counting him as a member.”

And:

“While Rubio continues to identify as a Conservative Roman Catholic, he frequently attends a non-denominational Baptist church with his family in Florida. As his notoriety increases, both communities have sought to lay claim to the rising political star, with little resistance from Rubio himself. In fact, the politician has cooperated for profiles in both the Catholic Advocate, and the Evangelical World Magazine—granting pitch-perfect interviews to each.”

NBC Latino also talked to Ignacio García, a professor at Brigham Young University and a Latino Mormon. García said, NBC Latino writes, "it is not surprising that the Rubio family attended a Mormon church when they lived in Nevada."

"Unless you are hiding under a rock,” García said, “a Latino family in Nevada would have been approached by Mormons, who are welcoming to Latinos, especially immigrants.”

In fact, LDS Church leaders have told NBC News that Latinos are a growth area for the church and are more progressive on immigration policy than on other church policies, like abortion, for example.

After his election as Republican National Committee chairman a year ago, Reince Priebus inherited an organization that was more than $20 million in debt and that had lost some of its biggest donors.

Additionally, Priebus got off to a slow start; as this author wrote back in July, the RNC under his watch actually raised less in the second quarter of 2011 than the Michael Steele-led RNC did in the second quarter of 2009.

But things have begun to turn around for Priebus on the fundraising front.

After raising just $37.3 million in the first half of 2011, the RNC raised nearly $51 million in the second half -- actually outraising the Democratic National Committee over that same period of time. (However, the DNC outraised the RNC for all of 2011, about $110 million to $88 million.)

What's more, the RNC has cut its debt in half -- from more than $20 million in January to $11.8 million now.

And in a reversal of Steele's biggest shortcoming -- which was spending, not necessarily raising money -- the RNC currently has more than $23 million in the bank as of Jan. 31, compared with the DNC's more than $15 million.

RNC officials point to a few reasons for the turnaround. One, they've lured back some of the big donors who jumped ship during the Steele era. Two, they've been more effective (and cost-effective) in getting grassroots donors to contribute (raising $5.9 million out of its $10.4 million Jan. 2012 from those giving less than $200). And three, they've made a concerted effort to show RNC donors -- both big and small -- the fruits of their labors (like their web videos).

"They want to know we're making the case [against President Obama and the Democrats] every day," RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer tells First Read.

Below is a month-by-month look at the RNC vs. DNC fundraising since Jan. 2011:

Republican National Committee
Jan. 2011: $5.7 million
Feb. 2011: $5.3 million
March 2011: $7.2 million
April 2011: $6.1 million
May 2011: $6.2 million
June 2011: $6.8 million
July 2011: $6.1 million
Aug. 2011: $8.2 million
Sept. 2011: $9.3 million
Oct. 2011: $8.5 million
Nov. 2011: $7.2 million
Dec 2011: $11.6 million
Jan. 2012: $10.4 million

Democratic National Committee
Jan. 2011: $7.2 million
Feb. 2011: $7.1 million
March 2011: $6.7 million
April 2011: $14.0 million
May 2011: $10.5 million
June 2011: $12.2 million
July 2011: $6.9 million
Aug. 2011: $5.4 million
Sept. 2011: $14.7 million
Oct. 2011: $8.0 million
Nov. 2011: $6.7 million
Dec. 2011: $8.9 million
Jan. 2012: $13.3 million

LADY LAKE, Florida– As the race in Florida draws to a close, Newt Gingrich is trying to draw a much sharper contrast between himself and his “liberal” GOP rival Mitt Romney. 

“I am, in fact, the legitimate heir of the Reagan movement, not some liberal from Massachusetts,” Gingrich told the several thousand-person crowd at The Villages, a retirement community outside of Orlando. 

In the past, the former House speaker always referred to Romney as a “Massachusetts moderate,” but early Sunday Gingrich began labeling the former Massachusetts governor as a “liberal” instead. 

“This party is not going to nominate somebody who is a pro-abortion, pro gun control, pro tax increase liberal,” Gingrich told reporters about Romney outside Idlewild Baptist Church after attending services there this morning. 

Gingrich has seen his poll numbers slip in the Sunshine State, where at one point he was beating Romney by a sizable margin. In the new NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday morning, Romney pulled ahead of Gingrich by 15 points – 42 percent to 27 percent. 

The former speaker, though, said he was not discouraged by the polls and reiterated to reporters that he would take his campaign to Tampa in August. 

“We will go all the way to the convention,” Gingrich said , adding that the convention might be a broken one. 

“We have no evidence yet that Romney anywhere is coming close to getting a majority and I think when you take all the non-Romney votes, it's very likely that at the convention there will be a non-Romney majority and maybe a very substantial one,” he said. 

The conservative vote in Florida seems to be split between Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who is polling at 16 percent in the new poll. Adding together the two men’s numbers would in turn pull one candidate ahead of Romney, which Gingrich hopes will eventually happen. 

“Rick's going to get a decent vote … on Tuesday. I have no doubt the two of us are going to collectively outscore Romney,” Gingrich said. “And at that point it might be a pretty good conversation” to have with Santorum about trying to consolidate all the conservatives behind one candidate, he added.

Anticipating President Obama’s populist tone tonight, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels will say the U.S. is not a nation of “haves and have nots” but one of “haves and soon to haves.”

"As Republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life's ladder,” Daniels will say, according to excerpts released by House Speaker John Boehner’s office. “We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves."

He will says President Obama has tried to divide not unite: "No feature of the Obama Presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others.”

He will also defend House Republicans from the expected volley by President Obama, who will vow to fight “obstruction.”

"It's not fair and it's not true for the President to attack Republicans in Congress as obstacles on these questions,” Daniels will say. “They and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation, only to be shot down nearly time and again by the President and his Democrat Senate allies."

He will try to present a positive vision with a classic Daniels-esque analogy.

“As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat,” Daniels will say. “If we drift, quarreling and paralyzed, over a Niagara of debt, we will all suffer, regardless of income, race, gender, or other category.  If we fail to shift to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have. …

"2012 must be the year we prove the doubters wrong.  The year we strike out boldly not merely to avert national bankruptcy but to say to a new generation that America is still the world's premier land of opportunity. Republicans will speak for those who believe in the dignity and capacity of the individual citizen; who believe that government is meant to serve the people rather than supervise them; who trust Americans enough to tell them the plain truth about the fix we are in, and to lay before them a specific, credible program of change big enough to meet the emergency we are facing."

He will also label the cancelation of the Keystone Pipeline “extremism,” calling it a “perfectly safe pipeline.”

"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy,” Daniels will say. “It must be replaced by a passionate pro-growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills.”

He will also call for a “dramatically simpler tax system of fewer loopholes and lower rates.”

He will call new regulations “mindless piling on” that “devour dollars that otherwise could be used to hire somebody.”

Des Moines - As Republican candidates crisscross Iowa seeking last-minute support, the Democratic Party is ignoring the field and focusing on front-runner Mitt Romney.

Today in a Des Moines press conference the DNC turned to a former factory worker who lost his job in the 1990’s to attack what it calls Mitt Romney “job killing record” in the private sector.

Randy Johnson, a former union official at an Indiana paper plant that Bain Capital purchased and then sold after labor discussions broke down in 1995 said of Romney, “I really feel that he didn’t care about the workers.”

Johnson said he’s telling his story now to let voters decide for themselves whether Romney should be president.

Now employed by the United Steelworkers Union in Pittsburgh, Johnson admitted Bain likely acted legally in its dealings with Ampad, but he’s accusing Romney of getting rich at the expense of workers.

“They let Ampad go bankrupt and they made 100 million…tell me there’s nothing wrong with that.”

This is not the first time Johnson’s story has been used as a political weapon against Mitt Romney. In 1994 Democrats used Johnson’s story in television ads attacking Romney during his campaign against then incumbent Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Romney’s 14-year tenure at Bain has been a frequent target of attack from the Obama re-election team and his Republican rivals.

Romney claims during his time at the firm Bain created a net total of 100,000 jobs, but he’s also acknowledged not all of the investments have worked out.

“We invested in over 100 different businesses,” he said last month on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,”  “and in those businesses, many were successful, added lots and lots of jobs. Some were not successful. That is the nature of free enterprise.”

On the campaign trail Romney argues that private sector experience is what’s needed to turn around the economy.

Texas is packing up its 155 delegates and moving its primary date to April, as Republicans and Democrats in the state announced today that they will move the primary to April 3.

The Lone Star State was previously slated join 10 other states and hold its primary on March 6 (Super Tuesday), but a fight over the state’s congressional map forced Texas to push back its primary, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about the issue early next month.

The move is a significant shakeup to the slate of states scheduled to hold contests on Super Tuesday. Texas would have been the largest state to vote that day. And it's not the only change to the March 6 calendar -- Ohio lawmakers this week agreed on a bill moving the Buckeye State’s primary up to Super Tuesday from June. With Texas moving, Ohio will hold the second most delegates of any state on Super Tuesday.

Holding its primary after April 1 would potentially allow Texas Republicans to hold a winner-take-all primary instead of the proportional plan that was in place for March 6. The Republican Party of Texas, however, told NBC News that delegates will still be allotted proportionally.

The saga is not over. A federal panel has to approve the proposed April 3 primary, and Texas still does not have a congressional map. Election officials told the state parties that if a map is not settled by late January, the primary date will likely have to be renegotiated and postponed to an even later date.

A majority of registered Republican primary voters in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll view their presidential field as "average," while only one in five say it's "strong."

According to the poll, just 21 percent characterize the GOP field as strong (meaning that it is superior to past election cycles and that it has many good candidates to choose from), while 27 percent believe it's weak (inferior to past elections and hardly any good candidates).

And 51 percent of respondents -- a majority -- say it's average (equal to past election cycles and some good candidates to choose from).

The Republican presidential field features these seven main candidates: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

The NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted of 1,000 respondents (and 271 Republicans), and which has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points (+/- 6.0 points for Republicans) -- will be released in full beginning at 6:30 pm ET.