Posted on 11/07/2008 8:31:02 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republican voters say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin helped John McCain’s bid for the presidency, even as news reports surface that some McCain staffers think she was a liability.
Only 20% of GOP voters say Palin hurt the party’s ticket, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Six percent (6%) say she had no impact, and five percent (5%) are undecided.
Ninety-one percent (91%) of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin, including 65% who say their view is Very Favorable. Only eight percent (8%) have an unfavorable view of her, including three percent (3%) Very Unfavorable.
When asked to choose among some of the GOP’s top names for their choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, 64% say Palin. The next closest contenders are two former governors and unsuccessful challengers for the presidential nomination this year -- Mike Huckabee of Arkansas with 12% support and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 11%.
Three other sitting governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Charlie Crist of Florida and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota – all pull low single-digit support.
These findings echo a survey earlier this week which found that Republicans were happier with their vice presidential candidate than with their presidential nominee. Seventy-one percent (71%) said McCain made the right choice by picking Palin as his running mate, while only 65% said the party picked the right nominee for president.
The key for the 44-year-old Palin will be whether she can broaden her base of support. An Election Day survey found that 81% of Democrats and, more importantly, 57% of unaffiliated voters had an unfavorable view of her.
Palin, Alaska’s first woman governor, was elected to a four-year term in 2006. She was largely unknown nationally until McCain chose her to be the party’s vice presidential candidate. She quickly became a darling of the GOP’s conservative base and energized the party’s rank-and-file.
Speculation about her future has run high for weeks when it appeared Barack Obama was likely to beat McCain. Already this week there is talk of her possibly taking the seat of embattled Republican Senator Ted Stevens if he manages to hang on and win won reelection despite recent federal felony convictions. Stevens would have to step down if his appeal of the convictions is unsuccessful.
Palin could also run for another term as Governor in the state where she still enjoys very high approval ratings.
Among Republicans, 66% of men and 61% of women say Palin is their choice for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Sixty-six percent (66%) of GOP women have a Very Favorable view of her, as do 64% of men.
While Palin’s high favorables suggest she has a bright political future in the Republican Party, it is important to note that favorites four years out from a presidential election quite often do not get the nomination. Obama, for example, was just an Illinois state senator four years ago, and Hillary Clinton appeared a shoo-in for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
Similarly, vice presidential candidates historically have seldom risen to the highest office by election.
Republicans are closely divided over the two most important issues in the next presidential election: 31% say economic issues, 30% say national security. Fifteen percent (15%) list fiscal issues, followed by cultural issues (12%) and domestic issues (6%). Five percent (5%) are undecided. Palin is overwhelmingly the top choice for 2012 among voters in all these categories.
Over two-thirds of Republicans describe themselves as conservative in terms of foreign policy, fiscal and social issues.
Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans have a favorable view of Huckabee, including 46% Very Favorable. Sixteen percent (16%) regard him unfavorably.
Eighty-one percent (81%) view Romney favorably, with 45% Very Favorable. Fifteen percent (15%) have an unfavorable opinion of him.
Jindal, Pawlenty, and Crist are far less known than the other candidates. Roughly 40% of GOP voters have no opinion one way or the other of these three Republican Governors.
If the Couric interview did her in. She would not have 91% favoribles among the GOP.
BTT!
If you don’t believe me, talk to people outside of FR. Palin has become a caricature of herself.
However, I never thought, in a million years, that she would have been the pick for VP. Several posters on here proved prescient. Maybe they are right about her resurgence.
Meaning, then, that the flailing and tiresome anti-Sarah trolls hereabouts are all one-eyed, one-eared and brainless...?
Yeah. I'll buy that. ;)
Sarah will be the first female POTUS
- John McCain knew, with GWB’s low popularity, gas prices up, and the economy going south (even before it tanked in July), that he wasn't going to win the election.
- John McCain knew that a strong campaign, even if it was ultimately a losing one, would help down ticket GOP candidates and avoid a total Democratic blowout at the congressional, state, county, and local level.
- John McCain knew he needed something to offset the ONE’s star quality because he certainly wasn't going to - especially with the MSM already in the tank with the Dems.
- John McCain knew he would need a high energy campaigner who could really get out the base and draw in at least a portion of the independent vote.
Huckabee was too conservative, and Romney had religion problems (it didn't matter to me but it does matter to a portion of the Republican party base). Besides, selecting them would be just another serving of white bread to a public craving something different.
BHO was the first truly serious African American presidential candidate. So he countered with the first Republican woman VP candidate in selecting Sarah Palin. In effect, McCain countered BHO's star power with Sarah's star power and it scared them. Badly.
It didn't matter that she wasn't really qualified to be VP because they were not going to win. Her job was to electrify the base and get conservative and independent voters to vote Republican for local, county, state, and congressional-level officials. And that was why they ran so hard right down to election day itself.
As a strategy, it didn't work perfectly. But the election wasn't a total blow out either. There was no Democratic tsunami.
And, has anyone forgotten how freaked out the Dems and the liberal press was and still are about her? At least THEY understand how dangerous a relatively young, attractive, articulate (well, once she got her campaign legs under her) conservative is to them politically.
Well done, John. Well done, Sarah.
She will never get the single mom vote and theres one hell of a lot more of them appearing daily.
91% of the Republican party does not get in Free Republic.
A poll has been properly cited and referenced, in support of the contention that Governor Palin is not, in fact (as the MSM smearmongers would have it) "damaged goods."
You'll need to provide something at least as convincing, in order for your rebuttal to be taken at all seriously.
That's not unfair; it's simply the way rational online debate works.
No, it's just the opposite.
I consider the Republican party being a liberal RINO party and any conservative (registered Republican or not) out side the party.
The GOP has effectively squashed any semblance of conservativism in it's ranks and continues to destroy anyone who shows any.
Evidence in support of this prediction ("will never") being...?
Do Republicans ever get the bulk of the single mom vote? Nope but I bet she’ll get more then most Republicans in the past/present, plus maybe she’ll still get those 15% to 20% of the PUMA’s that voted this year for us.
Having a 91% favorability rating within your own party is a good place to start from if you’re going to launch a bid for the Presidency in 2012. Many critics will say that is all she is. She will not expand beyond the base and thus not be a good candidate. I beg to differ. Once anybody knows you can count on a huge bloc of support you can then focus exclusively on developing outreach by developing programs and policies that attract others to your side. That is a big advantage to any politician. Again, I take the minority position. Thank God, for John McCain. Without him Sarah Palin would not have been possible.
That makes a great tagline... Thanks!
Hey, you certainly don't have to convince ME -- !!! ;)
I have. Based on what I've heard, you're inventing facts that you cannot and will not support.
When your bluff was called you punked out.
...and a big part of the 33 1/3% are really lying democrats lying about being republicans!
Uh Huh...I meant to use 'lying' twice, when talking about democrats, you can never overuse the word.
It's definitely a silver lining.
Three other sitting governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Charlie Crist of Florida and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota – all pull low single-digit support.
Point: se_ohio_young_conservative. ;)
Al Franken won this voting block overwhelmingly. How on earth would Republicans ever find someone to appease these dumb women?
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