Read the report from RasmussenReports.com on their most recent PA Poll

The candidate with the best statewide name recognition is in front, but with no one earning over 50% of the vote, Pennsylvania’s 2010 governor’s race is shaping up for now as wide open.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds State Attorney General Tom Corbett ahead of all four of his leading Democratic rivals in potential 2012 match-ups.

Corbett, the front-runner among GOP hopefuls for the job, captures 48% to former Congressman Joe Hoeffel’s 26%. Against Scranton Mayor Christopher Doherty, Corbett wins 46% to 23%.

The attorney general is a 44% to 28% winner over Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. The closest race is Corbett versus state Auditor General Jack Wagner, with the Republican on top 43% to 30%.

But in every match-up, nearly 10% prefer some other candidate, and roughly 20% are undecided.

Barack Obama carried Pennsylvania by 11-point margin in November 2008, but the president’s health care plan is as unpopular here as it is in much of the rest of the country. Obama’s overall job approval ratings in the state are now comparable to the low numbers he’s getting nationally.

Potential Democratic candidates also aren’t helped right now by the unpopularity of current Governor Ed Rendell. He’s term-limited and cannot run for reelection next year. If he could, 20% of Pennsylvania voters say they would be very likely to vote for the Democratic incumbent, but 45% say they would be not at all likely to do so.

Twenty-two percent (22%) of Pennsylvania voters have a very favorable opinion of Corbett, while just four percent (4%) view him very unfavorably.

Wagner is viewed very favorably by 10% and very unfavorably by eight percent (8%). For Onorato, very favorables total nine percent (9%) and very unfavorables 13%. Similarly, Hoeffel has very favorables of seven percent (7%), while 14% view him very unfavorably. Ten percent (10%) regard Doherty very favorably, 11% very unfavorably.

At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

Four-out-of-10 voters in the state, however, don’t know enough yet about three of the Democratic candidates – Onorato, Hoeffel and Doherty – to even offer up a soft favorable or unfavorable opinion. Wagner’s in nearly the same place with 34% not sure about him. For Corbett, that number is 23%.

In October, even most likely Democratic Primary voters drew a blank when asked about the leading hopefuls for the party’s gubernatorial nomination.

Pennsylvania Democrats are also in the midst of a divisive Senate primary battle between incumbent Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter and Congressman Joe Sestak, who has declared himself the “real Democrat” in the race.
Both parties will select their Senate and governor nominees in May 18 primaries.

Likely GOP Senate nominee Pat Toomey holds a slight lead over both Specter and Sestak in a look at potential 2010 general election match-ups, but that race, too, is very competitive.