WaPo: Palin’s net favorable rating now at -13

I’ll give you the sample up front to save you time. Dems 33, Reps 22, Inds 41; Libs 20, Mods 39, Cons 38. That’s actually the smallest percentage of Democrats sampled in a WaPo poll in 18 months.

The good news? She’ll have plenty of time and money now, thanks to SarahPAC, to turn the numbers around. The bad news:

The last line, obviously, is the killer. This same poll finds the current GOP field shaking out this way: Huckabee 26, Romney 21, Palin 19, which may sound like a fluke but isn’t really. As noted the last time I blogged a 2012 poll, Huck frequently fares best head to head against The One in hypothetical match-ups. If he and Palin have to battle it out for evangelicals in the primary, he’ll be sorely tempted to leverage those numbers on how she handles complex issues to accuse her of ignorance on policy — but how do you make that attack without bleeding over into self-defeating ad hominem nastiness? Run an ad charging her with ignorance and it’ll be read as charging her with stupidity, which isn’t true and the unfairness of which will make her seem sympathetic. Plus, Huck’s never been real adept at concealing his personal disdain for opponents he’s attacking. He might have to skip this area altogether, let the public come to its own conclusions, and focus instead on painting her as a RINO for supporting a path to citizenship and some sort of financial rescue while on the trail last year.

Another fun fact from the poll. Make of it what you will.

Evidence of a public preference for a Keynesian “do something, anything!” approach during a recession, or a broader signal of where America’s secret economic heart truly lies?

Oh, one more thing: 58 percent now say Sotomayor should be confirmed, a higher post-hearing number than WaPo recorded for either Roberts or Alito. Naturally, even though there’s not a thing they can do to stop her, Cornyn and Hatch declared today that they’re voting no anyway. Smart thinkin’, GOP.

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