Sarah Palin: Is She Over?
Sarah Palin seems to be politically in decline, and appears unlikely to run for president.
Sarah Palin: Is She Over?
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Quick, what is the last thing you remember Sarah Palin saying?
Not so long ago, every time the former governor of Alaska/vice-presidential candidate/reality-TV star posted any kind of statement on Facebook, it would echo around the media universe and be dissected over and over again. She had tons of power as a plain-spoken conservative woman with a devoted base and a potentially game-changing 2012 presidential candidate. Republican critics, and they are legion, were afraid to criticize her publicly and draw down the wrath upon them.
Now, it seems that Palin’s part in the national political conversation is shrinking. Her favorability rating in polls has dropped, even among Republican voters, and it is generally acknowledged that even if she were to win the GOP nomination, she’d lose to President Obama and perhaps bring a Goldwater-style debacle on the party.
Consider:
Palin’s average unfavorable rating is 57 percent, based on 159 nationwide polls taken from August 2008, when she was running for vice president, through April 4. Her average favorability rate: 30.2 percent.
The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found Palin running in fifth place – with 10 percent support – in a hypothetical Republican nomination race. Palin’s favorability rating was 25 percent in that survey.
Okay, but both of those measures include the opinions of a lot of Democrats, squishy Republicans and independents, groups that, in general, have long looked askance at Palin. She’s still beloved in the base, right?
Yes, but Republicans don’t love her as madly as before, if a Washington Post-ABC News poll from mid-March is to be believed. That poll found that Palin’s favorability rating had dipped to 60 percent among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents – down from about 90 percent when she was nominated to be John McCain’s 2008 running mate.
The Fix columnist, Chris Cilizza of the Washington Post, recently looked at these and other signs and pronounced that Palin had reached her “tipping point” and that it would be difficult for her to reframe her image and gear up a successful presidential campaign. (Though, as Cilizza allows, not impossible.)
Palin seemed to start going downhill with her widely condemned response to the January shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz. Palin played the victim, whining that the liberal media were rushing to blame conservatives for the outburst of violence at a shopping center. It went nuclear when she used the term “blood libel,” a historically loaded term referring to fictions trafficked against Jews by anti-Semites.
What do you guys think? Is Sarah Palin toast (as an electoral figure)? Discuss.
Comment removed.
Oh boy. You need a script...and quick.— Swyve- TIME TO GO!!! THE FACADE IS OVER!!! All she was about was getting the $$$$$!!!— phillygtown
- The thing I think a lot of righties don't realize, is that Palin is one of those RINO's. Sure she talks a good game, but her record is one of high spending and running deficits. Under her term as Mayor, Wasilla built a hockey rink, but failed to build a sewage system. As Governor, she took money from special interests and Alaska collected more per capita in Federal money than any other state.— JSaq
- No, she is not toast. I love toast. However I do not love garbage which is what she spews.— jack5225
- BTW, your attempt of being the Inky's version of Will Bunch's Attytood ain't cuttin' it. Back to the drawing board.— blackhawk90
- Why are "conservatives" so obsessed with the physique of male bloggers?
Not that there's anything wrong with that.— Talking point sleuth - Comment removed.
- She got her 15 minutes and more money than that dope could have her ever expected to make in her life. Catch the next dogsled to the polar bear pub, wooohoo !— ethicaloversite
But Liberals still write about her because they still don't understnd the Tea Party either— Kevinmac- she messed up next— keep deleting my account
- @kevinmac get this Kev as a Republican I would never vote for her. She is the main reason thet Mccain lost. Picking her was a huge mistake. She was and is anunintelligent clown. She is the ruination of the party. Tell me that there was not anyone better for te republicans to select. She is not in any way a standardbearer for the party. I will be gald to put a fork in her. Toast??? No! Just the trash that needs to be thrown out! Now lets get someone intelligent and respectable to run. And none of these clueless Tea party idiots. They are cavemen when it comes to understanding the world. They can leave the Republicans as far as i am concerned. Now is the time to find a quality candidate and win the Presidency back. Obama is beatable, but if you put up Palin, myself as well as a lot of other republicans just won't vote. Tea party morons!— PHAZED
- The toast is missing a fork stuck in it.— DJR
- She's brilliant! Just like Fathead Limbaugh and fathead Michael Moore, she got one side to love her and one side to hate her which gets you the maximum Q rating...and more importantly(to them) the BIG payday!!!— Gray Areas
- phazes, I always liked two-party system and respeceted most repubs, even when I disagreed with them. Today's gop is a joke and in o way resembles a real political party. There are no ideas, only tearing down everything that helps anyone. True republicans like Goldwater did not want to tear down the government and they did not hold up the opposition as America haters. I've split my ticket many times over the yeas,but I cannot find one republican now that I could truly vote for and believe they would do anything to help America, only corporations. The gop is sad.— mike l
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
