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A Bloomberg News poll released Thursday shows trouble for the potential presidential candidacy of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. A vast majority of respondents viewed Palin unfavorably. Sixty percent had an unfavorable view of Palin, compared with only 28 percent with a favorable one. President Obama had a personal favorability rating of 55 percent with 41 percent viewing him unfavorably. Two other potential Republican candidates for the presidency, businessman Donald Trump and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, had low favorability ratings. Trump was viewed favorably by 37 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 43 percent. Gingrich was viewed...

This is the winter of Sarah Palin’s discontent. Her “don’t retreat, reload” rhetoric blew up on her when Americans started fretting about heated political talk after an Arizona gunman shot a congresswoman and killed a federal judge. Then she added insult to injury by trying to claim she was the real victim, of a “blood libel.” Her poll numbers now are lower than at any time since she came on the national scene, and when New Hampshire Republicans voted in a presidential straw poll at their annual meeting, only 7 percent picked Palin. A new Public Policy Polling survey suggests...

As the start of the next presidential campaign nears, a new national poll suggests that President Barack Obama's tax-cut compromise with congressional Republicans did not hurt his standing among Democrats, while former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may be dropping in the eyes of Republicans. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday, 78 percent of Democrats questioned in the poll say they want to see Obama at the top of their party's ticket in 2012, with only 19 percent saying they would prefer someone else as the Democratic presidential nominee. The 19 percent figure is the lowest figure since...

Bill O’Reilly recently talked with frequent Fox News guest Charles Krauthammer to handicap potential GOP candidates’ chances in the 2012 presidential election. Krauthammer called Mitt Romney the front-runner” and said Mike Huckabee has established himself as a “major player”…but his most dissected comments will probably be his remarks on one Sarah Palin. Krauthammer compared Palin’s problem to Hillary Clinton’s in the late 1990s – strong support from her core base, virulent opposition from most others. O’Reilly asked if the level of opposition to Palin is the media’s fault, and while Krauthammer said they’ve “contributed enormously” and that “the animus to...

Long before the tea party movement grabbed half a dozen Senate seats, before its early proponents ever even dreamed of wearing Colonial-era garb in public, there was longtime Texas Republican Ron Paul, the one guy in Congress trying to abolish the Federal Reserve and shrink the government into near nonexistence. Paul won a devoted-bordering-on-cultish following during his 2008 presidential run, one which, obviously, didn't work out. But now Paul is telling the Times that "it’s at least 50-50" that he'll try again in 2012, and this time, with the movement built largely on his libertarian philosophy now a real force...

As the race among Republicans to challenge a wounded President Obama stampedes north next month, there will be more names besides Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin swirling around New Hampshire. It’s a wide-open field of potential GOP candidates from Mike Huckabee to John Thune and Tim Pawlenty. Possibly Haley Barbour and old but new Newt Gingrich may step in and dance. There could even be a Bush. Despite a hit reality cable show and book tour, it is unlikely that Palin will abandon her money-making efforts or her status as a king-maker to run.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he hasn't decided whether he'll run for president, but thinks people should be paying attention to him. "I just don't understand how it is that a person can read these polls day after day and the narrative is constantly everybody but me," Huckabee told Politico. "Whether I do it or not, the fact is that if one looks at the overall body of information that's available, nobody would be in a better position to take it all the way to November." Huckabee also drew a contrast between the attention given to former Alaska Gov....

Since I voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984, I have cast six presidential ballots - all for Republicans, but in every instance with my thumb and forefinger clasped firmly on my nose. My two votes for Reagan were offered up enthusiastically, optimistically and with confidence that I was voting for a candidate devoted to individual liberty, Constitutional faithfulness, American exceptionalism and free market principles. In my six votes since (four Bushes, a Dole and a McCain), I knew without doubt that the person for whom I was voting did not come remotely close to matching Reagan's belief in the ideals...

In her latest Facebook posting, former Gov. Sarah Palin continues to blame the Alaska Legislature for accepting stimulus funds, while neglecting to mention her decision to approve 97 percent of the money. If the $900 million she approved amounted to a "federal bribe with fat strings attached" that she wanted no part of, she should have vetoed it. Then, had the Legislature overridden her veto, she could logically back up her current comments about the events of 2009. As it is, her Facebook posting is an attempt to rewrite history and distort the operational structure of our state government. The...

Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He is a principal with the Dilenschneider Group, a global public relations firm. He was White House political director for President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. (CNN) -- The first date is over. Not much happened. President Obama and his new governing partners, the House and Senate Republicans, met at the White House along with the Democratic leaders and discussed the unsolvable issues between them. Even though...

SCRANTON, Pa. -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Tuesday that her running mate John McCain's plan to reduce or eliminate taxes and help distressed homeowners with their mortgages will "get this economy moving again." At a raucous rally in Scranton, Palin said McCain's mortgage proposal is "not a handout, but a hand up" to help financially overwhelmed Americans hang on to their homes. "This is going to get our country through a time of testing, and it's going to get the economy back on the right track," Palin said. "Under this plan, we'll help American families keep their...

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) last night defended embattled RNC Chairman Michael Steele as "doing a great job" and just a victim of the Washington establishment. "Michael Steele is an outsider, the machine is tough to penetrate," Palin told Sean Hannity on Fox News. "It's been good to have an independent outsider trying to create some change in the Republican Party."

A candid Michael Reagan dished on each of the main '12 contenders on Fox this afternoon. On whether Sarah Palin can win a general: "She has a shot? No. She is too polarizing. Can she raise money for the party? Can she get behind people and help them? Yes. But she's too polarizing to be elected the President of the United States of America, and by the way, I'll hear about that on my Facebook page." On Rick Perry: "Look at the Governor of Texas -- Rick Perry. Probably the most Reaganesque of everybody out there. Has a new book...

Good grief, Sarah Palin is a piece of work: A very happy birthday to Baroness Thatcher! There are so many lessons we can learn from her excellent example. She once said, “If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.” She sure did. Like her friend Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher had a steel spine. Her excellent defense of the free market is as relevant and true...

President Obama would trounce former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) in a hypothetical match-up for the 2012 presidential election, a new poll found Tuesday. Obama leads Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, by a 16-point margin, the Bloomberg News National Poll found. Fifty-one percent of likely voters said they would vote to reelect Obama in a hypothetical match-up against Palin, who drew the support of 35 percent of likely voters. Ten percent said they likely would not vote in an Obama-Palin contest, and 4 percent said they were not sure.

<p>Washington (CNN) – Sarah Palin will join forces with Michael Steele and the Republican National Committee next month to hold a pair of fundraising rallies, according to multiple Republican sources.</p> <p>The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee will team up with the RNC chairman at an event in Anaheim, California, on October 16 and in Orlando, Florida, on October 23.</p>

Senator Jim DeMint is shutting down the Senate by vowing to block all legislation that isn’t “hotlined” by tonight. The Senate is set to adjourn on Wednesday or Thursday; typically, a slew of bills that were put off until the end of the legislative session are passed by “hotlining,” a process in which they are sent out to all senators’ offices, and if no one complains, they pass by unanimous consent. Other senators have requested that the Senate allow more time for senators to consider the bills; however, DeMint is the only one to actually demand it and hold the...

This weekend, the Values Voter Summit took place. As you may remember, prior to the event, the group was complaining that the Republican leaders were not paying attention to their issues any longer. Then, during their meeting, they held a presidential straw poll among those attending, the ‘leaders’ of the group. Well, here are the results. Sarah Palin finished fifth with 7%. In fourth was Mr. Family Values himself, Newt Gingrich (10%). In third was the current Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney (13%). Mike Huckabee (22%) finished second. And you guessed the winner…that’s right, it’s Mike Pence (24%). Reporters were sort...

A new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll offers what is, I think, a somewhat misleading way to look at Sarah Palin. The poll finds that 59% of Americans and 40% of Republicans don't think she'd make an "effective president" -- numbers that come very close to disqualifying her even in the primary, if she chooses to run. This trouble imagining President Palin is constant across the polling since soon after she was chosen as John McCain's running mate, and it reflects both her own lack of experience and the higher bar set for a woman -- Hillary Clinton did years of...

t hasn't been the greatest of months for Sarah Palin when it comes to her political star power. The two candidates Palin backed in Tuesday's primaries lost their bids, making the former Alaska governor 0-for-5 when it comes to endorsements this month. In Washington State, Palin had backed Tea Party activist Clint Didier in his bid for the Senate over businessman Dino Rossi, the favorite of national Republicans. In making her endorsement of Didier last May, Palin said the Tea Party favorite had "inspired" her, and hailed him as a "patriot running for U.S. Senate to serve his state &...