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69% of GOP Voters Say Palin Helped McCain (Favorability among Republicans: ***91%***!!!)
Rasmussen Reports ^ | 11/07/08 | Staff

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.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2008veep; conservativeparty; conservatives; palin; palin2012; rasmussen; rinos; sarah; sarahpalin
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To: Antoninus

you and me both. i bear a lot of animus against peggy noonan for her snotty attitude towards sarah palin. she completely discredited herself, IMO.


341 posted on 11/10/2008 2:41:31 PM PST by xsmommy
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To: Polybius
When the Ford/Dole/McCain actually manages to WIN a presidential elction, the conservative voting base might actually start listening to the squish wing's increasingly tired snakeoil pitches without rolling our eyes and snorting.

Not one nano-second before, however. We have absolutely no good reason whatsoever to do so, after all.

You just continue to lose and lose and lose, each and every single time we (foolishly) allow you yet another opportunity to prove yourselves. You're the Seattle Mariners of American politics.

No one's listening. And that's no one's fault but your own.

Lather, rinse, repeat. And STFU.

342 posted on 11/10/2008 3:11:16 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: Mr. Silverback; Tennessee Nana; AuntB; TADSLOS
Welcome to the Bizarro World.

Worst. Infection. EVER. ;)

343 posted on 11/10/2008 4:30:18 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: Polybius; KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle; counterpunch
She has not even lived in the Lower 48 since 1987. Come on! Really

Kathleen Parker, is that you? Kathy, just because your hubby got a chubby when he saw this Palin woman doesn't mean you have to keep making up these reasons to be horrified. After all, some of them are awfully big stretches, like this bizarre "Lower 48" objection. Sure, those Alaskans are hopeless rubes (Andrew Sullivan calls them "snowbillies," how very droll!) but I'm horrified to imagine that if I ran for President you would say I'm unqualified because I've never lived south of Lake County, Illinois. And no, the villa in Tuscany doesn't count, darling.

Of course, you wouldn't really do that, because I'm a large, hirsute but well-bred man and your husband would never get an erection after seeing me give a speech. If he leaned that way, he would have married Janet Reno, not you, Kathleen.

Of course, we can forget about me and look at that nice young mulatto chap you loved so much during the campaign, Kathy: Barack Obama. How much time did he spend outside the Lower 48 Kathy, and has he ever lived south of Chicago? Not since well before 1987, dear old girl.

Lastly, dear Kathy, you should consider that people said President Bush didn't read, either, and even tried to use his comments about newspapers as "proof" that he was an intellectually bereft rube adopted by the Bushes after his carnie parents abandoned him. Yet we know that the man is a voracious reader of history and political theory, and that he and that nice Karl Rove (tragedy he's from the University of Utah instead of the Ivy League, isn't it? Atrocious!) have a running contest to see who's read more books. The fourth estate tried that gambit with Reagan as well. Kathy dear, you really must grasp firml the reality that just because Katie Couric serves a wonderful mimosa doesn't mean her opinion on Republican candidates is even a bit trustworthy.

Oh, and one last thing, Kathleen dear: Coddsie told me to say a warm hello. Hope you can see us in Nassau in January! As Coddsie's droll old dad used to say, we're going to steer this yacht hard-a-starboard!

Warmest Regards,
C. Wellington Silverback the Fourth

344 posted on 11/10/2008 6:06:58 PM PST by Mr. Silverback ("[Palin] has not even lived in the Lower 48 since 1987. Come on! Really!" --Polybius)
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To: Mr. Silverback

That one’s gonna zoom so far over his head, so quickly, it’ll leave a visible contrail. ;)


345 posted on 11/10/2008 6:11:49 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

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

Good.
Let the back stabbers keep attacking her. We will collect their names and cast them out.


346 posted on 11/10/2008 6:15:15 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (I can't wait for January 20, 2013)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

I cut my teeth in Strategic Air Command, baby. Contrails are my specialty!


347 posted on 11/10/2008 6:17:30 PM PST by Mr. Silverback ("[Palin] has not even lived in the Lower 48 since 1987. Come on! Really!" --Polybius)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

I cut my teeth in Strategic Air Command, baby. Contrails are my specialty!

Note tagline. :-)


348 posted on 11/10/2008 6:17:45 PM PST by Mr. Silverback ("[Palin] has not even lived in the Lower 48 since 1987. Come on! Really!" --Polybius)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Another thing, where in the heck is McCain's defense of Plain?

We have waited a week now.

Mr. McCain, I was out making phone calls for McCain /Palin. Without Palin I would not have been out there. And I know my sentiment is echoed by thousands.

349 posted on 11/10/2008 6:19:29 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (I can't wait for January 20, 2013)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
Another thing, where in the heck is McCain's defense of Palin?

Same place his conservative principles are. Unfortunately.

350 posted on 11/10/2008 6:21:18 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: Mr. Silverback
Note tagline. :-)

Heh. ;) My personal favorite, so far, has been the continued shrill, hysterical referencing of a YouTube attack video as "proof" that a sitting governor with an 80% favorability rating in her home state and a 91% rating among conservatives is (magically, somehow) the reason Team McCain's Oft-Promised Floodtide of "Moderates" and Hispanics never actually materialized.

It's like attempting to hold a rational, logical discussion with your kid's Speak'N'Spell. Seriously. ;)

351 posted on 11/10/2008 6:35:22 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

Yeah, the Republcan party has been digging its own grve with “me too” liberalism since 2000 (if not 1996) and we’re suppoed to believe all our troubles are the fault of a woman who’s been on the national stage for less than twelve weeks.

Morons.


352 posted on 11/10/2008 7:26:12 PM PST by Mr. Silverback ("[Palin] has not even lived in the Lower 48 since 1987. Come on! Really!" --Polybius)
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To: Mr. Silverback
"Voters will not elect Republicans who act like Democrats; they’ll just vote for the authentic Democrat instead."
353 posted on 11/11/2008 6:37:55 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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