69% of GOP Voters Say Palin Helped McCain (Favorability among Republicans: ***91%***!!!)

Rasmussen Reports ^ | 11/07/08 | Staff

[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.

[tpanther]

If Sarah wants to run, fine, but how about finding some serious competition and letting the best win?

OF COURSE! Trouble is, outside Bobby Jindal, I've seen nothing but spineless losers or RINO's.

Funny...we keep hearing about how Republicans have to be conservatives, now they have to be nuanced too?...sheesh...we'll never get anywhere!

Like I said, I'll take real conservatives and worry about them being polished as we go along!

[sickoflibs]

I was just about to look for this to send to my moderate Rep McC supporter neighbors/coworkers who blame Palin.

Thanks

[RasterMaster]

If it weren’t for Duncan Hunter in the primaries and Sarah Palin on the ticket in the general, I’d have thrown in the towel on the GOP more than a year ago.

Tired of the “Big Tent” RINO clowns and circus freaks trying to pretend they deserve support from the base when they stand for NOTHING the party was founded upon. If you can’t support the party platform, like many of the candidates running this time, you should have ZERO support from the national GOP.

[Huck]

I think I’m just going to drop out of it. It’s not as if my vote makes a difference anyway. It’s a waste of time. The hell with it. The whole thing makes me want to puke. I’m just going to stop paying attention. Stop caring. Stop voting. No more talk radio. No more free republic. I’m just going to find actual useful ways to spend my time, because I’ve had it. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t think of a single vote I’ve ever made that was significant. The whole thing’s a joke. Shame on me for wasting so much time on it.

[newzjunkey]

Come on! That’s unfair. He was not as bad as Dole. No one is that bad.

[Antoninus]

I hope the Peggy Noonans of this world choke on this.

[newzjunkey]

It certainly feels insurmountable and pointless to participate doesn’t it.

[newzjunkey]

People won't remember much about her in 4 years especially if she builds on her exposure with a strong two years in her term as governor. I'd prefer she not go to the Senate to replace Stevens but that might place her better for 2012.

I don't have a Very High Favorable opinion but I do have a Favorable opinion of her. She wasn't necessarily ready this year but I think she's a rising star.

Come 2012, if Obama's policies drive us into a serious recession (or worse), it's anyone's guess where the electorate will be willing to go for answers.

[robert david]

Unfortunately, Independents didn’t have the same opinion and that helped us lose the election.

[Lakeshark]

“Independants” weren’t ever going to be drawn to McCain over Obama, not with the MSM shilling the way they did. Independants have no soul and go with the flow as shown them by media sounbites. McCain never had a chance with them. McCain himself never brought them to vote for him. Palin at least brought the GOP voters out and made it a 5 point race, rather than the 15 point race it would have been without her.

[Lakeshark]

I think he was close to being as bad as Dole, Sarah was just much better than Kemp at energizing the GOP.

[Polybius]

"While 91% of GOPs view Palin favorably, 20% say she hurt the ticket."

Those numbers do not compute.

They do compute. You can have a favorable impression of Palin while, at the same time, believing that she hurt the ticket in the general election.

Look at the percentages from the article:

"Ninety-one percent (91%) of Republicans have a FAVORABLE view of Palin ... "

"An Election Day survey found that 81% of Democrats and, more importantly, 57% of unaffiliated voters had an UNFAVORABLE view of her."

Republicans gave Palin a pass on the Katie Couric interview disaster. Independents did not give her a pass and Democrats went for her jugular after the Katie Couric interview.

These are the percentages of Republicans, Democrats and Independent in the nation, as a whole.

Whether we like it or not, Democrats and Independents can and do vote in the general Presidential election and they constitute 73% of the American electorate.

Get out your calculator and crunch the numbers.

47% of all the voters in the general election had a FAVORABLE impression of Palin.

53% of all the voters in the general election had an UNFAVORABLE impression of Palin.

The final popular vote percentages in the general election were:

Obama/Biden: 52.6%

McCain/Palin: 46.1%

Palin’s unfavorable percentage was almost exactly the same as the winning popular vote percentage for Obama/Biden.

You can win a Free Republic popularity poll by getting 100% of the Republican vote and telling Democrats and Independents to go pound sand.

You can win a Republican primary election by getting 100% of the Republican vote and telling Democrats and Independents to go pound sand.

You WILL lose a general Presidential election by getting 100% of the Republican vote and telling Democrats and Independents to go pound sand.

[XR7]

[Gondring]

The other 33 1/3% of Republicans are sexist or rinos or both!

Or this concerns them:

"57% of unaffiliated voters had an unfavorable view of her"

But for a laugh... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2128534/posts

[LibLieSlayer]

The media are absolute slime merchants.

LLS

[Moose Burger]

If what’s currently on Reddit is a reference, by saying that she’s not as hot as Angelina Jolie (I am not making this up...)

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Unfortunately, Independents didn’t have the same opinion and that helped us lose the election.

Edited for truthfulness.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"Moderate" Republicans demanded (and were given) carte blanche opportunity to demonstrate, once and for all, that they knew how to win at the national level, this year.

They got exactly the candidate they wanted. They got exactly the party platform they demanded. The campaign was run exactly the way they insisted it be run.

How'd that end up working out for us, again...?

They actually managed to lose to a one-term Senate Marxist with open and unapologetic terrorist ties. The ONLY thing I want to hear from Team McCain or any of its shrill little online apologists, from this day forward, is a meek and contrite: "We're sorry."

They have nothing else worthwhile what. so. EVER. to contribute to any meaningful discussion, re: either conservatism or winning electoral strategies.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

You WILL lose a general Presidential election by getting 100% of the Republican vote and telling Democrats and Independents to go pound sand.

You WILL lose the next Presidential election -- just as you did this one, unforgivably, to a one-term Senate Marxist with open and unapologetic terrorist ties -- by alienating the conservative voting base still further (if that's even possible, at this point) and continuing to chase after the exact same phantom Democrats and "independents" who routinely spurn you every four years.

We did everything the RINO way this year, exactly the way the "moderates" wanted it, down to the last mewled syllable of their squishy, mealy-mouthed sock puppet's last apologetic campaign commercial.

The campaign "advice" offered up by these electoral dullards is, demonstrably, worth precisely jack squat. "Money talks, bull***t walks."

[altura]

Way to cop an attitude, huck