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.
I thought Mitt was clearly the best candidate left after Fred dropped out. Hucksterbee was a southern fried version of McCain with a generous helping of religious bigotry thrown in.
My agenda is nothing more, and has never been more, than saying things that I believe to be true, or getting involved with discussions I find interesting. No, I’m not a Sarah Palin fan. I didn’t think there was any way she would be selected to be McCain’s VP. Then she was. And now, aftere having a chance to get to know her better, I don’t think there’s any way she will be elected president. In 2012, or ever. I’m not approaching this as a lawyer at all. Just as an amaeteur newshound.
I do think a sizeable element of FR are out of touch. The Those who advocated for Duncan Hunter as president, for instance. Then the birth certificate fiasco. And now Sarah Palin as the Future. That said, I also find many posters to be quite knowledgeable and fascinating. What i fear is that they will be slowly “wished into the cornfield” by those who have moderator power, or at least the ears of the moderators.
I think conservatism is in a lot of trouble, and it needs to be marketed in better ways. That does not mean I am not conservative, at least on certain policies. If I were a troll, I would rather be celebrating on another board, rather than trying to muddle through the days after a major defeat.
I post here because I like the discussion. This thread especially. I will always be honest in my posts, and will not put on a mask to please the majority, be they Palin fanatics, or Obama sympathizers. I hope that as a result, I am not removed from FR, and not branded as a troll, because that is unfair to me and to what I am trying to do.
I have already conceded that I was wrong about Palin being picked at all, and it is possible that in 4 years time she is still a force. I am not a crystal ball reader. I just hope that you and others can realize that although I am not a cheerleader-type poster, I still can have a place here.
Anyone in the party that thinks she’s the problem? Can just get the hell out if they haven’t already. Any elites and any liberal Republicans just go. We don’t want or need you in a leadership role.
CR--thanks for the clarification--we're cool.
Two Manchurian candidates? One is the Messi-UH. He's an empty suit with someone else pulling the strings, but I don't know whom yet. His just concluded press conference showed he is just over his head, and he obviously had a pre-arranged list of reporters to ask questions of him. He forgot to not look down at his list of names before he selected reporters. And how about that sign on his podium''The Office of the President-elect" Taa-daa! There's a new one for us! Yeah,, he's a history maker alright.
The other Manchurian Candidate--that would be McCain. I wonder if his role was to throw this election to the other Manchurian Candidate. Too bad Sarah Palin got put in this mess. But McCain--the fake Republican--looked like a prize fighter who took a dive during this campaign.
I feel like we all got screwed this year, and some time will pass before we realize just how much.
We have a President elect who is a radical Marxist with no experience and is of unknown origin and a Vice President elect who is an idiot.This is America in 2008.
Agreed.
Of course I was hoping his rat oversample was too high and that there would be some bradley. But neither was true and Ras was right on.
Ras conducts himself as a pollster should. Always with objective and dispassionate analysis. Unlike some other pollsters I can think of who interject inappropriate commentary (and are fond of special sauce - hint hint).
I don’t think it is just you...so, yeah to the rest of your question.
The general public did not really take Reagan seriously right up til October of 1980.
I cant believe you are ready to give on Sarah based on 1 bad interview. LOL.
Do you know what I think ? I think you are unfair to Palin. I think you are just another RINO.
“Disturbingly, a full 9% of Republicans have already affirmed their opposition to Sarah Palin just days after the election, in what some are calling a statistical trend.”
/PalinBashers
Reagan had a few more skins on the wall going into the White House than Sarah.
Sarah can come back, but she made rookie mistakes and she will need to learn from them.
Sarah will not again make the mistake of hitching herself on to a Rino. Go Sarah, kick some @$$!
Time will tell if Palin has indeed created a movement, or if instead she was a historical-hiccup. It very well could impact the future of the GOP.
People dont just like her. They love her.
I believe in destiny. I dont think she was brought to us for no reason at all.
More Republicans voted for her than McCain. Saracuda Rox!
Palin/Colter 2012
Pray for W Palin and Our Troops
She will.
That's just the way she rolls.
OK... but please, no rinos!
“I do think a sizeable element of FR are out of touch.”
You make that clear and you repeat in various forms in many of your posts since you signed up in June.
Your agenda is to stop Palin, promote Romney, and make FR less conservative, or “monolithic” and “out of touch” as you put it.
The agenda of FR is to strengthen, promote, and be activists for, conservatism.
“Time will tell if Palin has indeed created a movement, or if instead she was a historical-hiccup. It very well could impact the future of the GOP.”
She is a Reagan republican, a lifelong republican with a right wing dad.
Your man on the other hand was the son of a liberal, anti-war republican presidential candidate, he became an independent in opposition to Reagan’s conservatism, supported liberal democrats (solely) for years and only rejoined the republican party in 1993 to run for a senate seat in Massachusetts.
He started moving right for this election and spent $150,000,000.00 to create a new image as a conservative investing $45,000,000.00 of his own money into that imaging campaign.
Now he has you here to handle some of the load at FR.
I dunno. Hard to distinguish a conspiracy along the lines you describe from the “just practical politics” I discussed in my original post. That is, you know you are going to lose so you do what you can to limit the damage you are going to suffer. Sort of going into “survive-the fight-today-to-be-able-to-fight-and-win-another-day” mode.
I realize you are still thinking on this but do you feel ultimately there is a single manipulator behind the scenes subtly maneuvering both sides? (Or are there possibly two or more (a la the “Great Game” of the 19th century)?)
Didn’t see the press conference, but I suspect that after the intelligence briefings he is starting to get, he is beginning to realize the really fun part of the job is now behind him.
“Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.” - Duke of Wellington
Somewhere, John McCain may be laughing.
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