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.
Today’s BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious): McCain’s campaign staff was out of touch with the base. Duh.
Four years of highern taxes under Obama, coupled with their increasing weariness of being called "RACIST!!!" every five minutes under the new ideological regime, will change that. ;)
She can get those Independenta and moderates. She was too new to the scene but if she does decide to run, she will be doing lots of interviews and primary debates.
If she does well those minds will change about her.
I WANT THAT PIN!!!
He is appealing to many. Not to me, but I can understand what people see in him. If only more would realize that he is a
liberal leaning RINO, and thus part of the problem. He isn’t a bad guy... but if we put him on the first place of the ticket, we’ll have another lost election, I fear. He would be good as Treasury Secretary maybe, but we need a young Reaganite on the ticket.
She got almost 30% fewer votes in this election than Bush did in 2004.And a handful more than Bush in 2000. Alaskan’s maybe weren’t so happy to have their native daughter in DC?
Well, of course. We all knew this.
And the reason why they think that way....can we have a roll call please......It's called the CNNN factor. Certainly Not Neutral News.
LOL. you just want to cuddle up to moderate voters dont you ?
You ever notice when we give the American public Diet Coke (Bob Dole, John McCain, Gerald Ford) we get pounded. But when we give them the real thing (Ronald Reagan Conservatism) we are able to win.
“And it won’t be Romney or Huckabee.”
We agree on one thing anyway. I think Huckabee has ended his political career by taking the Fox gig.
Romney? IMHO, Romney would split the party as badly as McCain did. Only problem is I don’t think there is a “Palin” type politician Romney could nominate as VP to reunite the party behind the ticket (they way Palin did for McCain.)
McCain was Bob Dole but without Dole’s “dynamic charisma”.
This tells me she could potentially win the primary, only to be trounced in the general. Unfair, but that’s just the way it is, as Bruce Hornsby might say.
The chattering class and disgruntled McCain campagn staff (= the losers) disagree.
I think it all depends on how the next 4 years go...if things are lookin’ good for Obama (50% plus approval, economy stable), I think Romney needs to be our Bob Dole and run...if everything’s going down the tubes and we’ve spent a ton of money on our ground game, we should push for a full Conservative ticket and roll the dice...magritte
Palin 2012!
That’s why we remind them about the tens of millions of us out here who support Governor Palin.. I want to dwarf the dozen or so elitist snobs who are dragging her through the mud.
Nothing in the article referenced gives any such indication. Explain.
People would have said the same thing about Reagan in 1976.
I have a premonition as well...it's call dollar signs and I see them going to Alaska for the next four years.
I would support that 100%. Gov Palin brought energy to the ticket I have not seen in years. Look at the crowds that turned out to see her. She is a rising star in the GOP and probably why all the potshots. Some former candidates know that she would beat them hands down.
She needs to come down to the lower 48 and campaign for candidates in 2010 and collect those IOU’s for 2012.
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