A poll has indicated that Mitt Romney leads Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee as the early front-runner for the Republican U. S. presidential nomination in 2012.

The Hill reported on Monday that Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, leads former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee 33 percent to 27 percent, while former Alaska Gov. Palin is in third place with 23 percent in a Public Policy Polling survey.

The Hill also said that Romney tops Huckabee in every region of the country except the South, where Huckabee's home field advantage puts him in the lead.

It was further indicated by the poll that in the South, Huckabee scored 37 percent in the poll over Palin's 25 percent with Romney in third place.

The Hill further added that the poll gathered numbers for only those three potential candidates and did not include other possible aspirants such as Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Other polling details and margin of error figure were not reported. (With Inputs from Agencies)