[Windflier]

...this is anecdotal only, based on speaking to Tea Parties, Rotary (pretty conservative small businessmen), and conservative college kids from Young America's Foundation meetings---there was no enthusiasm for Palin. People here don't want to hear it, but I have found in conversations with all these groups that females (especially younger ones) do not like Palin as a political figure.

I've seen statements like yours made many times on this website, and every time the string is pulled, it turns out the poster is relating their experience with an exceedingly small number of non-Tea Party, establishment Republicans, who are mostly informed by the MSM.

Also, in most cases I've seen, the poster themselves isn't, and never was a Palin fan, and usually turns out to be strongly supportive of some establishment party figure.

Right after the election, Greta VanSusteren ran a poll on her Fox blog which asked, "After the election, who do you consider the leader of the Republican party?" There were perhaps a dozen high profile Republican politicians' names on that list. Sarah Palin won it hands down, with over 40% of the total votes.

That result mirrors those of nearly every poll that has asked a similar question in the last four years. As an example, here's a graphic pie chart that was posted on the CafePress website in the early months of the 2012 Republican primary campaign. It details the percentages of campaign gear sales for various candidates on their site:

As the chart shows, Palin was far and away the most popular of the potential candidates in the race at that time. She didn't run, but I assure you it wasn't because she didn't poll well enough with voters. She consistently out-polled every other contender in the years leading up to 2012.

[LS]

Well, you're flat wrong. I speak at major Tea Party events, both in OH and AZ (and through a freak of weather just missed the major St. Louis event last year). These are die hards. Dayton OH Tea Party was the second largest demonstration in the U.S. in 2009, and I spoke in front of its 2009 group and later in front of a dozen OH liberty groups. So, no, you're wrong on this one. They are most definitely not "establishment" Republicans---in fact, we put in the head of the Dayton Tea Party as the chairman of the Montgomery Co. GOP and he was a disaster, for a lot of reasons having nothing to do with ideology (but with all the other factors that I repeatedly cite---organization skills, financing, etc).

Funny how those polls never seem to be valid when it comes to actual votes. Funny how Palin's OWN polls told her something different.