For what it's worth, I'm not pro-Pawlenty or pro-anyone right now. I'm just pro-GOP.This national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Republican Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports November 5, 2008. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
91% of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin, that's good. However, the same survey found that 81% of Democrats and, more importantly, 57% of unaffiliated voters had an unfavorable view of her.
With 30% of the electorate being GOP and about 30% being independent and more than half of ind. having an unfavorable view of her, that's a long row to hoe to get her into office. 43% of 30% is 13% of indy votes. Hence, 30% GOP plus 13% independent only gets you to about 43% and that's with all Republicans voting.
Keep that in mind with the same survey saying: 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. I'm not hawking for either of these guys (although I voted Romney in the primary), the data was just there lying around doing nothing and costing me even less so I thought I'd simply use it.
Now this was taken the day after the election and it's my opinion that at least 91% of GOP voters are not about to give her anything but a favorable reading. I mean, who is going to walk into a voting precinct, vote for Governor Palin and then immediately say they voted for someone they don't like. Her 91% is going to fall precipitously in my very humble opinion. Huckabee and Romney have been out of it for a very long time and still have high ratings.
Plus, losing GOP vice presidential nominees historically have had a tough time.
1. Jack Kemp, Dole
2. Dan Quayle, Bush
3. Nelson Rockefeller, Ford
4. William E. Miller, Goldwater
5. Henry Cabot Lodge, Nixon
6. Earl Warren (Yep, that Earl Warren the USSC CJ), Dewey
7-10. None of the losing VP's during FDR's reign made it
11. Charles W. Fairbanks, Charles Even Hughes GOP nominee against Woodrow Wilson
12. Nicolas Murry Butler, Taft (lost to W.wilson)
13. Whitelaw Reed, 1892
14. John Alexander Logan, 1884
15. William L Dayton, 1856
This is a list of all the 'losing GOP VP nominees' since the inception of the Republican party in 1854 and looking at the list I just put together, we haven't lost very many times period. However, it appears that the citizens of the U.S. have never elected a losing GOP vice presidential nominee to the office of the President.