Sarah Palin 'Going Rogue' to the White House? Polls say no.
With her book, 'Going Rogue,' released today, Sarah Palin is red meat to the far right. But Palin's poll numbers have slid significantly since she quit as Alaska governor.
People walk by a window display of "Going Rogue: an American Life", by Sarah Palin, in New York Tuesday as it hit stores in the US.
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Newscom
Washington
Here’s one big reason why Sarah Palin may not run for president in 2012: Her poll numbers are awful.
It’s possible for determined politicians to reverse poor ratings of public opinion. Hillary Clinton has done it, to a certain degree. And some experts say Ms. Palin’s current situation is similar to that faced by Secretary of State Clinton in the past.
But, still … 66 percent of respondents to a CBS News survey released Monday said they did not want Sarah Palin to run for the White House in 2012.
Seventy percent of respondents to a CNN/Opinion Research poll said Palin is not qualified to be president.
And for Palin, the trend is going the wrong way. As Pollster.com’s compilation shows, her numbers have slid significantly this year, particularly following her resignation from Alaska’s governorship in July.
“Perceptions of Palin’s qualifications for the presidency are shockingly low for a former presidential/VP nominee -- there’s been no one comparable to her since Dan Quayle,” wrote Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth, in a recent Pollster.com commentary.
Palin continues to be a highly polarizing figure. Republicans are much less dismissive of her qualifications than Democrats or independents.
In the CBS survey released this week, 43 percent of GOP respondents said Palin would have the ability to be an effective President. But only 11 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents agreed.
