“What good is name recognition if most have a negative association with the name?”
Where do you get the negative association? Has she lost a vote I don’y know about? Oh, annnnnnnnnnnnnd ... there’s no such thing as bad publicity? If everyone knows who you are, you can turn things around if it is less than positive, then everyone knows who you are in a positive light? Politics can do that.
Plenty of candidates? But you don’t name anyone with a snowball’s chance. None of them. Not with a name. And in Politics, the name is the game. Unless you steal it.
Conservative pollsters show Palin with high negatives along with Newt Gingrich. Frank Luntz said on Hannity the other night that Palin's biggest weakness is with independents.
So name recognition doesn't mean a lot if the majority have an unfavorable view of the candidate.
And in Politics, the name is the game.
Ronald Reagan wasn't anymore well known nationwide than Michele Bachmann in 1978. Obama wasn't well known in 2006.