And it’s not even particularly close.  In a revealing portrait of likely voters in this midterm cycle, a majority of respondents to Rasmussen’s survey say that Sarah Palin more closely represents their point of view than does Barack Obama.  The man who won the 2008 presidential election, on the other hand, only resonates with four in ten likely voters:

Fifty-two percent (52%) of Likely U.S. Voters say their own views are closer to Sarah Palin’s than they are to President Obama’s, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Just 40% say their views are closer to the president’s than to those of the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate.

Among the Political Class, however, 68% say their views are more like Obama’s, while 63% of Mainstream voters describe their views as more like Palin’s.

Interestingly, in the same survey, Palin only gets a 48% favorable rating, with a 49% unfavorable rating.  That seems to indicate that while some voters think she represents their values, they may not be as supportive of her as a candidate.  Similarly, respondents are almost exactly split on whether Palin is good for the GOP, 40/39, with 20% unsure.  They’re also somewhat less likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Palin (27%) than to support one endorsed by her (16%), with 55% saying it makes no difference.

However, on values, Palin clearly comes up aces against Obama.  She beats Obama among both men (55/37) and women (48/43).  She has majorities in every age demographic, even an 18-point majority among Obama’s core constituency of college-age voters (18-29YO, 52/34).  Fourteen percent of Democrats choose Palin, and she wins handily among independents by more than 2-1, 59/27.  She only loses in two income categories, both by pluralities: under $20K (40/42), and $60-75K (41/49).

How’s that Hopey Changey thing working out for Barack Obama?  Apparently, rather poorly.  As long as Palin’s on the stump — and she has been constantly in the public eye — she appears to trump Obama handily.