Posted on 01/20/2016 8:46:10 AM PST by Gandalf the Mauve
There was one race in which Palin appears not to have been much help -- and, in fact, hurt the candidate. According to a 2010 study from researchers at Stanford University, noted by Brendan Nyhan, Palin's presence on the 2008 Republican presidential ticket cost John McCain 1.6 percentage points. In an election in which 131 million people voted, that's 2.1 million votes that McCain should have gotten but didn't....
As the campaign progressed, fewer people said they didn't have an opinion on Palin. And as nearly all of those people formed an opinion on her, that opinion was a negative one. As the researchers put it, "Palin saw a sharp increase in negative evaluations as the fall campaign progressed. Looking at individual-level changes in favorability, we find that 34% of respondents downgraded their evaluations of Palin between September and Election Day, while just 12% became more favorable."...
We're looking at this now in light of Palin's endorsement of Donald Trump, of course, but it's important to set the context properly. We're not suggesting that this study means that Palin will have a deleterious effect on Trump in the primaries. On the contrary, Palin's endorsement likely helps solidify some support for Trump among conservative voters.
Instead, it's worth considering what happened with Palin in light of Trump's candidacy.
The study notes a 2008 Newsweek column which suggested that Palin "sent wavering Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans scurrying to Sen. Barack Obama."...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Palin was a mistake for McCain in my opinion...and I do indeed believe she cost him votes....when folks got down to the nitty gritty of “What if” she had to the Presidency.
Sure....how can they explain him begging her to campaign w/ him so he could keep his senate seat. If she had not endorsed him, he would have lost that seat, truth.
This is revisionist nonsense.
McCain got a huge boost from Palin. He took the lead.
Then the financial crisis came and McCain did weird stuff, like suspending his campaign. Then they wouldn’t let Palin attack Obama and support conservative values etc...
She made it as close as it was.
Plus, if you look at national polling, the only time McCain briefly led was during those couple of weeks after Palin joined the ticket and before the stock market crashed.
I understand her decision can be used against her, she probably knew that then, and knows that now, too.
This article is nonsense. Crazy McCain would have received far less votes if not for Palin. Have they forgotten how confused, muddled, and feeble McCain appeared?
McCain was just a bad candidate.
I'm one of the few around here who don't have a rabid personal dislike of the man (that's the best compliment I can muster), but he was a very bad candidate.
Without Palin energizing most of the conservative base, McCain would have gotten trounced worse than he was.
They’re not counting how many votes McCain didn’t lose because Sarah’s presence on the ballot overcame a certain amount of stench, making it somewhat more ‘nose-worthy’...
"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"
"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"
"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"
McCain sucked, end of story.
I remember a bumper sticker then that I used to see a lot.
PALIN
—*—
McWhatshisname
This should be in breaking news!
/s
And part of me is glad that McCain lost, because the bastard would have dragged us into WWIII.
More than likely GAINED McCain 2 million votes. I remember the rally in the Dayton/Cincy area-âit was something like 18,000 people, while no one gave a crap about McCain before her.
Yeah.....bullshit. Not sure why she endorsed The Donald, but this claim is ridiculous.
McCain didn’t get my vote, Sara Palin did.
What nonsense.
I remember how moribund the McCain campaign was until he announced her as his VP.
Suddenly there was energy and momentum in the campaign and McCain actually overtook the Evil One in the polls.
Then the financial meltdown happened (to this day I believe it was triggered by oligarchs to swing the election to 0.)
McCain handled this very badly and he never recovered.
Ahhh, this must be the Leftie Talking Point today - “take down Sarah.” They are getting very scared.
Subtracted from the four or five million votes she got him from those who would have left that line blank otherwise, she netted him 2- 3 million.
See, I can make up statistics too!
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