Palin: Voters may not care she quit
By Peter Grier | 07.16.09
It looks like ordinary voters may not care as much about Sarah Palin’s resignation as pundits do.
Yes, her diction was kind of loopy, yes, the timing was odd, and yes, Alaskans will now have to get used to a new governor. But the whole affair does not appear to have budged her national poll numbers very much, going by a Gallup survey released Thursday.
Last November, the American public was pretty much split into competing camps about the losing GOP VP candidate. Forty-eight percent viewed her favorably, and 47 percent viewed her unfavorably, according to Gallup data.
And now? It’s 43 percent favorable, 45 percent unfavorable, according to a Gallup poll taken from July 10-12.
“This suggests no widespread deterioration in her image after her surprising decision to resign her post as governor with more than a year left in her term,” writes Gallup analyst Jeffrey M. Jones.
In fact, the most startling thing about the new numbers may be that 12 percent of respondents said they have no opinion about Ms. Palin at all – good or bad.
As to her relative standing in the GOP, she remains as popular as any of the other potential 2012 nominees that have been coughed up by The Great Mentioner.
Palin is the choice of 21 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents for the party’s 2012 nomination, according to Gallup. Mitt Romney does slightly better – he’s the choice of 26 percent – but the pair could be said to be tied, because that five point lead is within the poll’s margin of error.
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2. SteveTheHawk | 07.16.09
I’m something of a moderate so maybe I don’t count amongst the extremist Republicans, but Palin for President????
I would much prefer someone who has worked at the federal level for at least a short time before they try to run the country. In addition, do we really want someone who walks out on their job as Governor? Sorry, but she’s nothing special. She is a professional politician, nothing more, and I don’t want her making the decisions that a President needs to make.
3. mountain mom | 07.16.09
She is not cut out for the political life, too thin skinned. SHe did quit on Alaska and she would probably quit on the entire country as well. At least we know this moving forward.
5. Diane | 07.16.09
I hope she runs in 2012 Can you imagine a President with morales and values first and not just for show WOW! a new breed of politicians.
She has my vote.
Diane
6. Dur | 07.16.09
If we don’t care, which I certainly don’t, then why are we still talking about it ?!
8. Eric | 07.16.09
I care. She quit on her State to focus on her political career. Are you kidding me? Is this they type of message we want to send to our children? Quit your commitment to service to feed your inflated ego. Where is the moral compass of this country pointing to? Celebrity is more important than values and service? Doesn’t sound like a conservative values message to me, but that is what she is saying by her example.
She quit on her state, she will quit on the country. I can’t believe anybody is still taking her seriously.
9. Attila the Plumber | 07.16.09
What this data actually says is that a little over 10 % of Palin supporters who actually thought about Palin and her word-salad for a minute finally got it.
There is no “there” there.
Palin is the quintessential empty barrel rolling down a hill (very quickly, I might add).
10. Macario Zuniga | 07.16.09
Thanks God!!!
That she gave up, I can’t imagine another running of her and her annoying voice, that probably would make me go back to my country of origen
11. Gill Bates | 07.16.09
Current polls only give a very rough indication of her celebrity popularity. This does not necessarily translate into political support and votes.
Voters may not care that she quit, but they DO care that she is not very bright and is very shy on real experience. They will care that she is unprepared and not good at debates or interviews. Even on energy, which is supposedly one of her strengths, she exhibits an astonishing lack of depth and understanding.
Her best bet is to become a radio or TV personality where that stuff doesn’t matter as much.
12. Simpleton | 07.16.09
Of course voters do not care much whether a physically attractive, incurious political hack quit on her state or not.
We like the idea of our elected officials being dumber than us, as long as they are cuter than us.
They should, though.
14. Emerald Leigh | 07.16.09
I didn’t expect that McCain would win the election even before he picked Palin. She came out of nowhere as many vice-presidential candidates have done. I never sensed the power that one expects in either one though I think McCain might have been just OK for the Whitehouse. Now that she has resigned the office of governor of Alaska it makes me sure she could not have stood up under the intense media and public pressure of an even higher office and would have resigned that role also. The thought is scary that the next in line would have been her had he been elected.
After resigning as governor I doubt she could get close to a nom. Could be mistaken, much stranger things happen in this country every day.
15. Ruff | 07.16.09
Palin’s approval rating with Alaskans has gone from 90% (a year ago) to 50% (a month ago). The writing was on the wall..she had to resign before her numbers went any lower.
Too bad she couldn’t finish a job that she started.
Quitters never win and winners never quit.
16. Debra | 07.16.09
But her flip-flopping on on cap-and-trade might matter, especially to those really concerned about issues and not party politics.
18. Captrade | 07.16.09
Sarah who!!!!
If no one shows up for a speech AND no one actually hears a speech by Sarah who, is it then a speech?
But I think she’d prevail over the whack job from Utah - Mitt Romney.
Maybe America is beginning to wake up - someone please tell the pundits at CNN - especially Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, and Lou Dobbs. What a lineup at CNN…..America can’t do better than that?
Sarah who! Can we move on to more important things - and not Michael Jackson.
20. matt | 07.16.09
The fact that 43% of Gallup respondents viewed her favorably is an ominous sign for the future of America. America needs qualified, enlightened individuals, not folksy demagogues. Quitting the job her constituents elected her to do (and without any real reason!) reveals how selfish she is.
21. Monk | 07.16.09
I worry what she would do if she was being attacked politically while President. Would she just quit when things got tough?
22. Patrick | 07.16.09
Of course Palin voters don’t care.. they still haven’t figured out why her side lost yet.
They don’t want to know… won’t listen when told so the fact that their views haven’t changed just speaks volumes.
23. sharona | 07.16.09
God help us if she is the nominee. I mean what a statement to women, that no matter if a person quits that the only thing that matters is womanhood, and not intelligence and that you too could get elected by personality alone not matter ones intelligence. If she runs and if God forbid she would win and since she could not handle the issues in Alaska, how could we ever as a country trust her to be diligent as President. I understand that mothers may like her b/c of her having it all and she has faith but this country needs a leader that knows the world other than being able to see Russia from her front door and having Russia in her air space. I wish people would wake up and note that there are more knowledgeable women out there that could run the country as she is no match to Hillary Clinton or other women. We want a strong woman that can handle the job and the intelligence needed to run the country. I may not always speak clearly but know the world and have a curiosity about the world and Palin does not.
24. Patrick C | 07.16.09
I don’t suspect that her resignation will hurt her immediately. It will hurt her in the Republican primary when she is branded a “quitter”. If this was the first political job she had abruptly quit, the label might not stick, but this is quit #2.
I don’t think it will help even if she says that she did it for the good of the state; because she wanted to insulate Alaska from the controversy that revolves around her. If the controversy around Palin is sufficient reason she shouldn’t be Governor, it would seem equally disqualifying for President.
25. Peter Jensen | 07.16.09
Spin baby, spin! Look, if there was ANY doubt that this person is completely unqualified to be president (to a degree which surpasses even the fantastically incompetent GW), certainly now it obvious. Please stop trying to prop up her hopeless ambition, and work on finding a legitimate, rational, and intelligent candidate who isn’t neck deep in hypocrisy. Thanks.
26. Jack | 07.16.09
The best thing the Republican party can do to have a chance - ditch Sarah Palin.
27. mfk from boston | 07.16.09
so if she’s popular among 21% of republicans and only 26% of americans identify as republicans, what are we talking about in terms or real percentage of the population?
29. John Fetzer | 07.16.09
The poll, as with most polls, is highly dependent on the wording. Favorable is being banterred around like it means electable. But favorable doesn’t mean that. A lot of formerly pro-Palin people still like her as a spokesperson for their views, but she showed several traits that turned them off to her electability. Quitting because of any difficulties is not an option as president nor is using the excuse of biased critics. Will we accept her excuse in negotiations with the Chinese, Iran, Hugo Chavez, North Korea, et cetera as failures because they were too mean and biased against her? Her pit bull comment during the election turns out to be hollow. She has the tenacity of a chihuahua.
30. Erik Prince | 07.16.09
Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I’m astonished by these poll numbers. Setting aside my differences with Palin’s political views, I could not support someone for future public office who would resign from an elected position, more than a year early, without even a directly stated reason. Instead of giving a reason, she mearly attempted over and over to convince us that resigning wasn’t the same as quiting. I can’t shake the feeling that she just quite because it stopped being ‘fun’. It’s hard to understand how even her supporters can explain away her glaring lack of dependability.
31. Wesley from San Fran | 07.16.09
It is the ego of those who were wrong about Palin in the first place that is doing the talking and poll taking and thus skewing the numbers into something simply absurd. Would you hold palin up to your children and say “be like Sara!!!” and “chnage horses in midstream” or “the Alamo???”. No one wants to admit that they were bamboozled or even worse that it doesn’t matter who it is as long as its a Republican? Who wants to own up to a closed mind? So, they answer the question with their ego and secretly be glad she’s not anywhere near the Whitehouse.
32. Patrick | 07.16.09
I am one voter who DOES care that she quit. Her quitting tells me she knows her Lieutenant governor is more capable and responsible.
33. Amy Witherbee | 07.16.09
Still trying to figure out why an unremarkable woman from Alaska ended up in the national media. Are there some new stories yet?
34. Harold | 07.16.09
Strange article. Palin’s not running for president, but its all about assumptions by the press. Since she has no plans to run the Gallup poll is worthless. Get a life.
35. surprising | 07.16.09
Not really a big surprise. Ordinary people do not care what pundits think.
36. curious | 07.16.09
OMG!!
Who was it — was it P.T. Barnum? — who said “nobody EVER went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”…?
37. carly | 07.16.09
Gallup shows 3 Musketeers are leading the pack for 2012. The GOP is in trouble big time. There is a very interesting related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588
38. JIm Bencivenga | 07.16.09
She makes a ton of money off the popularity media attention has given her; then the speaking circuit; a book deal; all the while staying connected with her family pre-VP nomination. She decides if she will run for the senate from Alaska. Then, if she does a credible job there she makes her own run for the whitehouse in 2016. But first she makes some money and gains the independence affluence provides, like most of the other millionaire senators. If Al Franken can get elected to that august deliberative body, Sarah Pahlin certainly can too.
39. jeanette beautreau | 07.16.09
But WHY did she quit? I’ve read several articles that all talk about the response to her stepping down. I’ve heard the news conference and responses to that on TV but I still don’t understand what it is that she’s going to do, what it was about being governor that prevents her from carrying out her plans, etc. what gives? Thanks.
40. Todd | 07.16.09
Winners quit and quitters win, according to Sarah. Too bad Bush didn’t have the political savvy that Sarah has. With Sarah leading the repubs, I feel really good about the future of America. You go Sarah, we love ya you loony bird/barracuda/pitbull/lipstick pig/mamma grizzly.
41. T Partier | 07.17.09
Nice… 43% of Americans disgustingly ignorant of what it really takes to do meaningful work on the national and international stage. 43% of Americans can’t tell a charlatan from the real deal. This explains how bogus ‘work from home’ scams and TV psychics can have such long lives.
42. dave in PA | 07.17.09
“This suggests no widespread deterioration in her image after her surprising decision to resign her post as governor with more than a year left in her term,” writes Gallup analyst Jeffrey M. Jones.
What an absolute joke!
45. Gnarly Erik | 07.17.09
Should Republicans be obtuse enough to select her to run for national office, Sarah Palin will materialize into the ‘Poison Pill’ that finishes off the Republican Party for good.
However, given the determination by which Republicans seem to have to shoot themselves in the foot these days, that surely may come to pass
46. Gene | 07.17.09
Of course the voters who liked her don’t care that she quit. They’re not examining issues rationally in the first place. A vote for Palin is simply a misplaced emotional decision based on her empty rhetoric and appearance.
47. Nick | 07.17.09
She spent the majority of the first half of her term as Governor traveling out of state trying to get a new job as Vice President. Then when she finally gets back to Alaska she spends her time traveling to do political talks and talk shows. Now with 1 1/2 years still left she says “Hey I’m quitting at the end of the month so I think this is a good time for me to take a vacation.” Simply put she is not meeting her obligation as an elected official if that doesn’t bother voters then what exactly are they voting for?
48. Matt | 07.17.09
I dont care what any of the polls say. Sarah Palin is a huge disgrace to the United States. She knows very little about Foreign Policy and has no real legitimacy for running one of the most powerful nations on this earth! If she can’t even continue out on a term as Governor, how can we expect her to finish a term as President? If she cannot even work with her own state legislators to pass legislation, how can we expect her to work with the great foreign leaders of the world, let alone our own U.S. Congress?
49. Ria | 07.17.09
It has been a big jolt to the republican party that their former VP candidate has left the governor position. There have been rumors that she may soon turn independent or even take up commercial/TV assignments. Mitt Romney or Bobby Jindal will be the next Republican party prez. candidate. I think Sarah has no chance in 2012. I would have preferred Ron Paul, but he may have no or just a little chance.
50. Splavistic | 07.17.09
Oh, bother. When will the media stop talking about this lady? Stop writing articles about her. Stop profiling her on the news reports. Please, just stop!
51. Robin | 07.22.09
This article is redundant. No one who cares about facts is a fan of Palin, so how could factual information ever affect her fan base in any way?
52. Jackie | 07.25.09
I’m a Moderate Republican, and although I have nothing against Palin as a person… I would never vote for her. I think she did great harm in quitting early. Can you imagine if she runs what will happen, people will be buying up those bumper stickers that read Palin 2012-2014 1/2. I highly doubt she will win. She may have the Conservative base of our party, but she doesn’t have all the Moderates, or Independents that are needed to win. So I doubt that our party will select her as our Candidate for President.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Matt | 07.16.09
I suspect that will change if she tries to run for office again. The opposition (especially in the primary) will paint her as a quitter and a political lightweight.