Since she resigned her governorship near the end of June this year, pundits on the left and right have been arguing about whether it was a smart or dumb move. On the left, they're saying it just shows she's a quitter. On the right, some call it a brilliant move to position herself for the 2012 presidential nomination.
But the important thing is not what the pundits think, but what the ordinary citizens (voters) think. A new poll answers that question. A Marist survey released yesterday shows that 61% of the people think it was a bad political move. About 15% thought it would help her future political aspirations. About 11% said it would make no difference, and 13% said they didn't know if it was good or bad. The most surpriising thing is that a majority of Republicans said it was a bad political move (51%).
It also turns out that more people in the poll view Palin unfavorably than favorably. Around 43% of those polled had an unfavorable opinion of Palin, while 37% had a favorable opinion. About 20% had no opinion.
Those results pretty much mirror a CNN / Opinion Research poll at the beginning of August. That poll showed Palin with a 48% unfavorable view to a 39% favorable view. About 13% in that poll viewed her neither favorably or unfavorably.
These are not great numbers for someone who wants to be president. In fact, CNN's polling director said her numbers "... show her just about as popular as Dan Quayle was a few months after the Bush/Quayle ticket went down to defeat in 1992."
She's got a lot of work to do before 2012!
Palin divorce watch: Day 19
ReplyDelete"These are not great numbers for someone who wants to be president."
ReplyDeleteDoes she? Don't forget, in her resignation speech on July 3, she said, "I've never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this - to make a difference... to HELP people."
By the time 2012 rolls around, you may find, like all the Republicans who wasted their energy getting ready to run against Hillary in 2008, that you've been preparing for the wrong battle.