Palin Needs To Undo A Lot Of Damage
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, 2012 Election, Palin, Polls
Ron Brownstein details just how badly campaign ‘08 hurt her…
In the national Election Day exit poll, fully 60% of voters said they did not consider her qualified to serve as president if necessary, while only 38% thought she would be ready to step in.Those figures were daunting enough, but new calculations from the exit poll provided by the NBC News political unit show that outside of the Republican base skepticism about Palin’s credentials reached even more imposing heights. While 74% of Republicans thought Palin was qualified, just 35% of independents and 9% of Democrats agreed [...].
And while 40% of voters without college education thought she could step in, just 35% of college graduates agreed. Fully 63% of college graduates rated her unqualified.
Likewise, while Palin scored relatively better in the South-45% of southerners thought she was qualified, and 53% did not-she faced towering levels of resistance in the east and west (where voters by more than two-to-one in each case considered her unqualified.) The Midwest tracked the national numbers, with two-fifths calling her qualified, and three-fifths not.
The same pattern was evident by location: Palin ran best among rural voters (45% qualified, 53% not), but sagged among suburbanites (40% yes, 59% no) and collapsed among urban residents (just 30% qualified, 67% not).
Do pundits really think “folksiness” can save her? Because that’s an uphill climb that not even Dan Quayle had to make.
No way. No how.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, 2012 Election, Palin, Polls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 11th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Why should she get a second shot? John McCain’s campaign made her star, otherwise she would never, ever have been considered as a candidate for President.
She had her chance, a one in a million chance that few politicians ever get and looked foolish. And even if the press was out to get her, they still couldn’t put all those stupid, stupid words in her mouth.
She could do many things now, go to the south.. exploit her “base” there, become a senator, even, and make millions… but she shouldn’t attempt to get near the presidency again.
November 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
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November 11th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Mixed signals coming from Palin these days. She could have rehabilitated herself somewhat, and gained some national credibility in the process, by sticking by her call for Ted Stevens to resign from the Senate, then running for the seat herself. That she says she’d still like to run for President, but didn’t take this opportunity, left me a bit mystified. On the other hand, as I’ve also pointed out, Palin might think twice about running for President once she realizes what a huge commitment of time, effort and money that would be. Taking two months away from her family and governor’s duties to campaign as someone’s running-mate is one thing; doing the same for almost two years is something else altogether.
So, while I’d still like to see Palin have a go at the 2012 race, I’ll believe it when I see it.