Posted on 03/22/2011 5:08:01 AM PDT by FreeManDC
Sarah Palin’s standing with the American public has undergone a stunning reversal of fortune, according to two recently released polls. Just two and a half years ago, Sarah Palin’s star was ascending to the political heavens. A solid 53% of Americans held a favorable opinion of Mrs. Palin, while only 28% had a negative view. But according to a March 3 Bloomberg News poll, only 28% of Americans now hold a positive view of the former Alaska governor, while a stunning 60% see her in an unfavorable light. And a March 16 Washington Post-ABC poll found Palin’s negative ratings fell to a nadir of 37% among Republicans and right-leaning independents. How do we explain this stunning reversal for the immensely ambitious political wunderkind? Following John McCain’s surprise selection of Palin on August 29, 2008, and her well-received acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, she notched an impressive favorability rating of 53% as a virtual political unknown (all figures I cite are from the Gallup poll, unless otherwise noted). But as the campaign jolted toward the November election, stories began to circulate about a simmering discord between the McCain and Palin campaign staffs. “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” complained a top McCain adviser just days before the election. “Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party.” Following the GOP’s sweeping losses on November 4, Palin’s favorability ratings still registered 48% — a respectable number, considering the predictable miscues of the grueling campaign. Soon shaking off the post-election blues, Palin’s first move was to establish SarahPAC, which would eventually raise $1 million for conservative candidates around the country. Throughout 2009, Palin’s favorability ratings cruised along in the acceptable low to mid 40s range. Palin’s heralded book Going Rogue came out on November 17. Even though the autobiography would eventually sell over 2 million copies, it also raised questions about the former candidate’s conservative credentials — even her character. Going Rogue highlights Palin’s endorsement of the controversial Title IX quota program. It reveals her predilection for gender-baiting clichés like “I’ve been living in a man’s world all my life.” The autobiography even suggests a mean streak. When then-boyfriend Todd told his friends that Sarah didn’t know how to kiss, Palin’s judgment was as harsh as it was swift: she “learned a lesson about guys that day: even the good ones can act like jerks.” As if women never gossip about their mates’ sexual prowess! Throughout the year Palin appeared at endless Tea Party rallies around the country. On February 6, 2010, Palin keynoted the inaugural Tea Party convention in Nashville, TN, cementing her position as the charismatic leader for the burgeoning movement. But in mid-2010, the apparently unstoppable train suddenly took a pro-feminist turn. During a May 15 speech at a Susan B. Anthony conference, Palin unveiled the term “Mama Grizzly,” and invoked the words “feminism” and “feminist” no less than a dozen times. This provoked predictable attacks from the NOW blowhards — and raised conservative eyebrows as well. Palin’s response was to accuse her critics, including her female detractors, of chauvinism — a stance that began to wear thin in the eyes of many. The cracks in Mrs. Palin’s formidable reputation began to show themselves in the Gallup poll taken after the November 2 elections. While she garnered a steady 40% favorability rating, for the first time ever her unfavorable numbers spiked to 52%. Perhaps the decisive turning point, though, was the day that Palin decided to take on Barbara Bush. First ladies occupy a revered spot in the American iconography, but apparently Palin was too tone-deaf to understand this. When the former first lady remarked that Palin might prefer to stay in Alaska rather than throw herself in the hurly-burly of national politics, Palin rebuked Mrs. Bush — and her family — as a group of elite “blue bloods.” Wrong move, Mrs. Palin. Then came her “blood libel” gaffe on January 12. And just last month, Palin insinuated former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was “Neanderthal.” Manhattan Institute scholar Heather Mac Donald has ridiculed the “feminist strain” of the Mama Grizzlies and notes that Palin “is living up to the most skeptical assessment of her.” But the real reason for her plummeting support is that many Americans are confused about who Sarah Palin is and what she really stands for. Is Mrs. Palin the tireless spokesperson for a recrudescent silent majority? Is she a have-it-all, do-it-all Super Mom? A dazzling, but ephemeral Media Maven? Or is she an old-school, quota-embracing, male-bashing feminist who also happens to be pro-life? Is she a shake-and-bake liberal whose political resumé includes support for the ill-fated bridge to nowhere and a record-breaking $6.6 billion state operating budget in 2007? Until Mrs. Palin takes steps to reconcile these apparent contradictions, these questions will continue to be grist for the political mill.
What a pack of lies!
While I am sure it`s true that negative media has taken a toll on her, these figures are lies!
Why do they continue to cite two worthless polls?
Honestly, a poll comes out and a dozen ‘news’ articles are based on it, can’t these authors find real news?
*sniff* *sniff*
Smells like desperation to me...
Until Mrs. Palin takes steps to reconcile these apparent contradictions, these questions will continue to be grist for the political mill. ...................................... She’s just coasting at the moment, if she runs she’ll stoke the fires and it will be full steam ahead. The MSM and the DNC talking points are beginning to wear thin. She’ll show them, she’s too feisty not to.
I wonder how many $100’s of million the MSM has spent trying to destroy Sarah and everything she stands for?
“if we keep saying those things about her maybe they will come true??”
MSM
Anybody who thinks it’s “mean” to note that even good guys can sometimes act like jerks is beyond hope - and laughably two-faced (”It’s mean to call somebody mean” lol). This author reveals his/her stupidity more than anything else.
This guy has had issues with women and with Palin for ages.
hahaha You are funny.
They are trying to make her another Dan Quayle.
How many times have we read stories telling us that Sarah is all washed up, kaput, finished, gone...
And the next week, there she is, smiling radiantly, making sense, completely undisturbed.
Sarah has more grit and determination under her pinky fingernail than the entire Washington Cocktail Party set.
Finished? She hasn’t even started yet.
“I wonder how many $100’s of million the MSM has spent trying to destroy Sarah and everything she stands for?”
And all this while the ship USA continues to sink. He!!, there’s nothing else going on to report right now. /s
I realize that huge numbers of FReepers consider it their duty to protect the honor of the Divine Diva of the Sub-Arctic but let’s be honest with one another:
Sarah Palin’s appeal to the general American public is so limited that I’m amazed that she is still mentioned as presidential timber.
Poll after poll shows her back in the GOP pack. Even Huckabee and Romney out-poll her.
I think Palin is a bit like NASCAR. Either you dig it or you couldn’t care less. And too many don’t care or just hate it.
Just the facts folks.
And I have NO axe to grind.
I wish I could find a Republican candidate for ‘12 who could make me feel enthusiastic. So far, no sale.
Maybe someone will emerge during the debates. If not, count on more Zer0 years.
Born February 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, ID (Meets the Jus Soli Requirement)
Parents were
Charles R Heath, born in ID
Sarah Sheeran, born in WI
Both parents were US Citizens at the time of her birth (Meets the Jus Sanguninis Requirement)
Sarah Palin is a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN unlike Comrade Barry.
Step one...
Make up polls.
Step two...
Report the results of the made up polls as “news.”
Step three...
Report Sarah Palin as absolutely, positively, insignificant. Forgotten. Yesterday’s laundry. OVER with a capital “O”.
Step four...
Repeat.
pissant is that you?
The “Divine Diva of the Sub-Arctic”
That says it all!
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