Perhaps the advice of some GOPers framed in various language and rejected by Sarah Palin should be taken to heart by the former Alaska Governor: a new poll suggests that the more she talks the higher her unfavorable ratings climb:
A new national poll indicates that 56 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin, an all-time high for the former Alaska governor. That 56 percent unfavorable figure is up seven points from just before the midterm elections, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning.
Thirty-eight percent of people questioned in the poll say they have a favorable view of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, down two points from October.
The poll was conducted following a difficult two week stretch for Palin, who is considering a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Palin was in the spotlight following the Jan. 8 shootings at a “Congress on Your Corner” event at a Tucson, Arizona supermarket, which left six people dead and 13 wounded. Authorities believe Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously wounded as the target of the mass shootings. A 22-year-old suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, is in custody.
Following the shootings critics suggested Palin’s at-times charged political rhetoric and use of a graphic featuring crosshairs may have contributed to the shooter’s motivations. The graphic was part of a website that Palin put up last year, during the divisive debate over health care reform, to highlight 20 congressional districts won by Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, where Democratic representatives were voting in favor of the legislation.
According to the survey, Palin’s unfavorable rating is up 10 points among women, compared to just three points among men, and among independent voters, her unfavorable rating has grown a whopping 14 points.
CNN’s polling director reports that the polls are not due to her website with the crosshairs (which an aide later insisted were REALLY surveyors symbols but that Palin herself later indicated were indeed…yes…crosshairs). “But women and independents – two groups that tend to prefer civility and bipartisanship – may have disliked her combative reaction to suggestions that the website was involved.”
This again points out Palin’s problem: she not only is not winning over new, vital constituencies but seems to have either no desire or an inability to try to win them over.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.