The good news? Fox News and WaPo had her at -13 a few weeks ago. The bad news? Given the trend lines, it’s now obvious that her resignation has cost her some national support.
Thirty-nine percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday have a favorable opinion of the former Alaska governor and last year’s Republican vice presidential nominee. That’s down seven points from a poll conducted in May, and it’s also nine points lower than the 48 percent who now say they now view Palin unfavorably. Forty-three percent viewed Palin negatively in May.
“Most of that change has come among Republicans and conservatives,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “GOP voters still like Palin — two-thirds continue to have a favorable view of her — but she is not as wildly popular among GOPers as she was in the spring, when eight in ten Republicans had a favorable view of her.”…
“A 39 percent favorable rating makes it that much tougher for Palin to become president should she decide to run in 2012. Her favorable rating is almost identical to the numbers that former vice president Dan Quayle got just after leaving office in 1993,” says Holland.
The margin of error for the Republican sample is 6.5 points but these numbers do jibe with what Fox News found: In that poll too, 67 percent of Republicans viewed her favorably. Most pols have their polling ups and downs over time (see, e.g., Hillary Clinton) but so far it’s been a downhill slide for the ‘Cuda. My sense is that the media/SNL caricature of her is so vivid in the public imagination that it’ll be unusually difficult for her to undo the bad impression; even the “death panel” comment might cost her, especially with fellow Republicans like Isakson and Lisa Murkowski spinning it as “nuts” and offensive. Exit question which I don’t think I’ve ever asked before: If she decides she’s momentarily too radioactive to win the nomination and bows out of 2012, whom do the Palinistas break for? I can’t see them being real thrilled with either Romney or Huck. Does some Palin-esque dark horse jump in once she decides not to run in hopes of snapping up her base? If so, er, who is it?
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