Someone brought that up. A few points to think about:
1. Don’t confuse Palin’s celebrity status with her political popularity. A lot of people pay attention to her because she’s fun to watch when she’s flailing around. Like Lindsey Lohan.
2. The Republicans need to win independent voters over after this three ring circus of a Primary. Sarah Palin scares a lot of independents. She even scares some loyal Conservatives (see my dad, for example).
3. I really haven’t seen Sarah Palin doing much politically to get into the GOP convention. She’s either really stealthly, like a cougar (lol), or she’s just not interested. I’m betting on the latter.
Sarah Palin is essentially where Ron Paul is in popularity. There’s some rabid fans who want her to run, and then there’s some lukewarm people who wouldn’t mind seeing her jump into a brokered convention (if we have one). But the majority of us are hoping she goes away, since she embarasses us unofficial Conservatives.
I’ll never vote for Sarah Palin. Ever.
[...] Read more here: Sarah Palin at a Brokered Republican Convention? « The Sound of … [...]
I’m presently working for the Gallop organization, and we’ve been watching Sarah Palin since her Vice President bid in 2008. We’ve taken several polls of her popularity in several demographics on both sides of the political aisle.
You’re basically right – right now, in Independents, she scores rather low. Ron Paul actually outscores Sarah Palin by at least 5%. Common responses were that she lacks knowledge on the economy, she is the least prepared politician when running, and that she has an inconsistent message.
The group that surprised me the most was people who are loyal pundits of Sarah Palin. They ranked her low in electability. Some common responses indicate that they know she has some pretty strong weaknesses that could be easily exploited by other contenders. One response was that they don’t think she would be able to control her own campaign well enough – that there would be detractors and defectors in her own camp that would bring down her popularity if they came out. Another response was that she has an issue getting consistent donors to stay with her on the campaign trail.
She does rank high among Conservatives and those firmly in her own camp. She is outranked by Hilary Clinton in womens’ votes by a large margin. Rick Santorum outranks her in Social Conservative preference, by about 10%.
* Give +/- 2% in all instances for error.
Thanks Artie.
I read your email and I liked that you included official poll information for me to look at. I might post some of it up here later.
At least you came over and responded to my post, unlike those other guys on that other WordPress blog who think Sarah Palin is the savior of the Republican party.
I got a sense from the Republican party at large that Sarah Palin is merely a figurehead that helps fundraising. Not an electable candidate.
Like Mr. Malcolm suggested, she’s not a terrible person. She’s just still too inexperienced for most voters to trust in a General Election. Maybe she might get her ducks in a row and achieve a level of confidence needed to win the Presidency. But I think women like Hilary Clinton rate so much higher, and have a larger chance of winning than Sarah Palin.
One thing I think everyone needs to remember is that Sarah Palin would never be a surprise anything. If she decides to jump into a brokered convention, she would start advertising her intentions before the convention. We’ve seen or heard nothing, so we can only assume she doesn’t have any intention of running.
I’ve been covering her for my newspaper of late, and even had a chance to talk to her several times. She’s interested in helping other candidates running get a leg up, but she seems very distant in running for the Presidency. There’s been mention of maybe running for Senate, but I’m not sure if she’s even interested in that. She’s very focused on her family right now, and I think that’s a primary reason she isn’t running.
To be fair, she is more intelligent that most people believe her to be. My personal opinion is that she just needs time to get certain issues under control and learn how to better maneuver in the political environment. Once she can speak confidently about certain subjects without having her hand held by an expert, I think she’ll do fine.
You know what’s funny? Some people over on that other blog I mentioned told me they had evidence that she’s so ready to run for President, and that she scores high with Independents. Some sort of polls they did or something.
They basically asked me what reality I was living in.
Really?
Their study would contradict every official poll we’ve done in the past four years. It would also contradict a majority of polls other companies have done in just this year alone.
This may sound somewhat hypocritical, and maybe amusing, but -
Don’t believe small, independent blogs that claim to have polls proving X or Y on the Internet, especially when they contradict official polls made by larger, more reliable companies. If they are asking you what reality you live in, you should tell them there’s only one reality, and you live in it. If they believe in multiple realities, then they must be the ones having issues.
May I ask where you went and got rebuked? What page you were told there’s proof that Sarah Palin is leading in Independents?
Hmmm?
I think it was here -> http://thespeechatimeforchoosing.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/ppp-sarah-palin-still-more-popular-than-actual-candidates-could-be-unity-choice-at-brokered-convention/
I set it so I don’t get anything back from people replying to my comments, so I haven’t been over there since this dude said something bonkers. I just commented and watched.
I see some crazy fool just recently said I was some sort of spammer, LOL. Whatever.
Wow, quick response.
I just lightly skimmed the website, and I think maybe you should avoid those places. It looks like a shill site – one that talks highly about people in an attempt to make them more Internet popular than most people think. I realized the guy who called you a spammer has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s rather scary really.
Feel free to run by my website sometime and debate with us. We’d love to have you. Could always use more rational, intelligent people. You’d probably have less of a headache that way.
I will do. Thanks for the email and I’ll probably check out your site later tonight when I have less to do.
Right now, I’m pretty busy and have a all-call Vice Pres corporate meeting in like 10 minutes.
Seriously, though -
The guy responds to your comment with Palin’s employment history. I could list off Donald Trump’s impressive business/leadership history, and we’d still know he’s not fit to run the country. Just because you know people and have tried everything does not make you better at running the USA.
If anything, her employment history tells me she can’t seem to hold down any one particular position for very long before she either quits, or she’s replaced. If you look at her voting/poilcy record, she flip-flops worse than Joe Biden or Mitt Romney in her opinions. I’d say she’s more like Newt Gingrich – a true panderer.