For all the smoke the media's blown up our keisters about Palin being a down to earth hocky mom 'Murkin, it seems even the GOP--when pressed--wants another option.
Hilariously, tucked away on page 13 of Newsweek's latest polling is the relevation that Palin isn't even that hot among her own fanantical party:
"21. If John McCain is not elected president, which one of the following three possible candidates would you be most likely to support for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012?"
Total
20 Sarah Palin
35 Mitt Romney
26 Mike Huckabee
10 None of these/Other candidate
Palin's strongest supporters, Social Issues Republicans, only support her 23-30-31 vs to Mittens and Huck. And she gets her clock cleaned among "Traditional Republicans" who split 19-42-23.
Had the Social Issues Republicans assumedly not bested Romney and Huck during the primaries, we might actually be in for something to worry about in terms of organization. It doesn't hurt our side that McCain and Palin have been gaffe after gaffe, quickly diminishing the ability of the media to spin something positive from their erratic and poorly-phrased mishaps.
But Question 20 shows something different. Not only does it preceed the matchup question, but Huck and Mittens not mentioned.
"20. Thinking ahead... if John McCain is not elected... would you like to see Sarah Palin run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, or not?
Traditional Republicans Social Issue Republicans
Yes, would 42 52
No would not 40 34
Among the supposedly more empirical, fiscally-oriented faction of Republicans, Sarah registers at about ambivalence at best. Throw in better candidates than McCain like Frankenromney, and she hits antipathy or lackluster. True in Question 20, among the "social issue" faction she hits 50 plus. So I guess if the GOP breaks in half and becomes a party of, say, only 20% of the country, Sarah Palin will be a shoe-in... albeit with one high ideological/glass ceiling to shatter.
This poll had a significant margin of error, but Palin still did pretty poorly considering she's the GOP's biggest celebrity.
But Republicans aren't too concerned with the future, overwhelmed by the meltdown and rising resentment between their greedy factions. Hopefully, by the time they are thinking ahead, they'll have whittled themselves to Duncan Hunter and Sarah Palin.