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.
She was great, McCains Management team sound like Left wing whining liberals.
Gutless jerks attacking the only Republican Bright Spot!
God BLess Sarah Palin!
Eff you NRO Mittbots, Noonan, Parker and enabling presstitutes...
8% have an unfavorable view of her, including 3% Very Unfavorable.
Sounds about like FreeRepublic.
I place the blame for Mac’s loss squarely on his campaign people. When the campaign was really rolling, HUSSEIN couldn’t fart without the McCain people slapping a commercial on TV about it the very next morning. I was pumped. Then those commercials stopped.
People need to keep sending money to Palin. It’s gonna take her four years to get enough from all over the country to buy her way in like everyone else does.
Where’s that Palin/Nugent 2012 bumper sticker?
It’s sad that we require a poll to state the obvious.
Yet, I’m sure there are still people in the McCain campaign patting themselves on the back for keeping Palin under lock and key so she wouldn’t be a drag on the ticket.
If any candidate ever uses any of those feebs again, he will deserve the resulting defeat.
AMEN!!!!!! GO SARAH!!!!!!! We’re comin’ back in 2012, with SARAHCUDA!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!
SARAH!!!!!!! SARAH!!!!!!!! SARAH!!!!!!!!!
SARAH PALIN’2012!!!!!!
I like Scott Rasmussen, he’s fair even though lots of people here were saying he fudged the poll to oversample dems.
He puts out this favorable survey when Palin is under attack.
You nailed it. I refused to vote for Dole. Probably would have voted for McCain but think Palin kept him in game.
The media frenzy to discredit Palin had an effect on many voters - many Americans do not realize how untruthful the MSM has become.
The problem isn’t with Republicans. As this poll shows most GOPers like Sarah Palin and thought she helped McCain. The problem is with so called independents and moderate voters. Both those groups of voters went for Obama. Especially the self described moderates.
Now you’ve done it...the artist responsible for that design on President Reagan despises Republicans. Then again; so does most of the comics industry.
Exactly.
A Romney/Palin ticket would have won and set Palin up for 2016.
This should be a big heads-up for all conservatives. Watch and see how the Republican Party leadership treats/handles Sarah Palin. If they do not recognize the excitement and enthusiasm she has generated (during a particularly uphill struggle, and with a moderate running-mate), then they are to be dismissed, ignored, rejected. They will be shown to be absolutely tone-deaf, incapable of winning anything, unable to see what “sells.” At such a point, conservatives would do well to consider withdrawing their support from the “Somewhat Less Than Liberal Republican Party” and find themselves a new home.
Without Sarah on the ticket, McCain would have sunk into Barry Goldwater territory on the Electoral College map. He was behind 10-15 points over the summer. He only went slightly ahead after he picked Sarah.
It’s the MSM conspiring to take down a credible candidate with smears and lies, which will forever be repeated.
More leftist propaganda from the same people who put McCain’s weak candidacy as best (sic) choice.
Palin was who won our vote for McCain and the GOP. Now they want to play the blame game and point fingers at why they lost. Frankly, with that attitude, they deserved to be booted out as a reality check. It is up to the voters to convey our feelings about the GOP’s abandonment of it’s principles of “We the People” so this never happens again.
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