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Title: Nearly Half Of Palin Backers May Flee GOP If She Isn’t Nominated
Source:
RawStory
URL Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/palin-backers-flee-gop-nominated/
Published: Feb 1, 2011
Author: Daniel Tencer
Post Date: 2011-02-01 12:07:33 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 1318
Comments: 3
According to the poll, nearly half of likely GOP voters who support Palin said they would switch to a third party candidate if the former Alaska governor and current Fox News personality didn't secure the presidential nomination in 2012. Fully 46 percent of Palin backers said they were likely to vote third party if Palin lost, with 22 percent saying it's "very likely." This devotion among Palin fans is especially problematic for the GOP because, as an earlier Rasmussen poll showed, Palin is the GOP front-runner with the largest opposition among Republican voters. Thirty-three percent of likely GOP voters said Palin was the candidate they least want to see win the presidential nomination. Other candidates' support bases aren't as quick to abandon the party should their candidate not win. Thirty-five percent of Mike Huckabee backers said they would consider a third party if the former Arkansas governor lost, while 31 percent of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's supporters said the same. But Palin voters abandoning the GOP likely won't be much help to the Democrats, who stand to gain little from disillusioned Republican voters. Rasmussen reported that 90 percent of likely GOP voters said they were unlikely to vote for President Barack Obama, under any circumstance. Rasmussen noted that the commitment of Palin backers appeared to have grown in recent months. In a survey taken last November, only 31 percent of Palin backers said they would consider a third party. But Rasmussen suggests that, at least for some respondents, the third party option is an empty threat. "During the 2008 Democratic Primary season, a fairly sizable number of Hillary Clinton supporters said they wouldn’t support Barack Obama if he won the nomination," Rasmussen noted. "But, given a choice between Obama and McCain, those voters came around and supported the Democratic nominee." Palin's overall popularity declined in recent weeks, after a series of perceived blunders following the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson earlier this month. After taking criticism for having placed Giffords' name on a "hit list" of targeted Democratic districts, Palin accused her critics of "blood libel," a move she later defended despite anger from many groups upset at her apparent comparison of her own critics to anti-Semites. Recent presidential race poll numbers have swung wildly for Palin. In a poll taken earlier this month, Palin ranked in second place with 19 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, behind only Huckabee at 21 percent. But a poll released Friday had Palin at 10 percent, with Romney in the lead at 28 percent and Huckabee at 15 percent.
A new poll from Rasmussen released Monday reported that Sarah Palin's divisiveness as a candidate may pose a serious electoral problem for the Republicans in 2012.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Time to throw her under the bus.
Why? Help me out here someone who backs Palin. How can you over look her short comings? I don't get cult like worship - I get she has charisma but she seems not to have ability. Is it because she is an ideologue?
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
I've said for about a year that she's not going to seek the GOP nomination. Rather, I thought she was setting herself up for a third party run if the likely GOP nominee (RINO Romney) got the nomination. Things have changed since the 2010 election. First, there are a tons of business-oriented candidates preparing to enter the GOP race including Romney, Donald Trump, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, and as of today Jon Huntsman who resigned as Obama's Ambassador to China (he was also the GOP Governor of Utah). How does Romney get traction with a whole bunch of people who look a lot like him? Second, Palin is over exposed. Right now, twice as many people view her negatively than view her positively. Third, there are far fewer movement conservatives likely to enter the race than pro-business types. Huckleberry, Gingrich... So it many be easier for one of these people to gain the momentum and win the nomination over Romney, in which case Palin would have no reason to run as an independent. Again, we'll see what happens, but the situation is far different than it was 6 months ago.
#2. To: Brian S, Abu el Banat (#0)
Rasmussen noted that the commitment of Palin backers appeared to have grown in recent months.
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill
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