(CNN) – A new national poll suggests that most Americans don't think Sarah Palin's decision to step down as Alaska governor was a smart political move.
Sixty-one percent of people questioned in a Marist survey released Tuesday say Palin's resignation was a bad political move, while 15 percent feel it helps whatever political aspirations last year's Republican vice presidential nominee may have in the future. Eleven percent said it makes no difference, and 13 percent were unsure of its impact. Even among Republicans, 51 percent think the move hurt more than helped, with one in five GOP voters saying it was a smart move.
Palin, who stepped down last month as Alaska governor with a year and a half left in her first term in office, has been non-committal about any aspirations to run for national office, but she says that she wants to campaign across the country for candidates with ideas that she supports.
According to the poll, 43 percent hold an unfavorable view of the now-private citizen Palin, with 37 percent seeing her in a positive light and one in five unsure. Among Republicans, Palin has a 73 percent favorable rating, with 16 percent holding an unfavorable view. Independents appear split, and Democrats overwhelmingly hold an unfavorable opinion of Palin.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national survey conducted at the beginning of August had similar results on Palin's favorability.
"Our early August poll had Palin's favorable rating at 39 percent, with 48 percent holding an unfavorable view," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "So both show her just about as popular as Dan Quayle was a few months after the Bush/Quayle ticket went down to defeat in 1992."
Quayle declared himself a presidential candidate in 1994, but dropped out of the race in February, 1995.
Palin's resignation last month fueled speculation about a possible run for the White House. When it comes to a hypothetical matchup for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, the Marist poll suggests a dead heat among three possible contenders, with 21 percent backing former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, 20 percent supporting Palin, and 19 percent backing former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. That's consistent with most other national surveys of the 2012 race conducted this year.
The Marist poll was conducted August 3-6, with 938 U.S. residents questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for the overall sample, and plus or minus 5.5 percentage points for questions only asked of Republicans.
From CNN Politics
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Get used to it. She is here to stay. Just get Palin together with Limbaugh and they will have a breeding pair. As long as there is ignorance, fear, greed, bigotry and religous zealotry, there will be a Sarah Palin.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you the religous right's answer to ben Laden! Sarah Palin!
What? Of course she is a woman! We Amrecians are progressive and forward thinking!
I foresee a problem for her: she QUIT a job she had taken an oath to fulfill, in order to garnish the book sales to her base. Ah, but her true base is at best barely literate. I hope she used a comic book format.
Here it is, the weekly Palin story to take away from the fact that ObamaCare is crashing and burning.
Another mistake in a long line of not so good moves. It is ALWAYS better to have a position to launch from than none. It would have also sent the message that she finds the importance that being a public servant is far more pertinent than swinging some quick and BIG bucks. It also would underscore that fact that she could finish something.
She will make an awesome candidate for whatever she decides to run for. She has a strong base that eagerly laps up everything she says. She is sure to get the nomination no matter who she runs against because Romney is too middle of the road and also no born again Christians will vote for a Morman. And Gingrish is a confessed adulterer, so they can't support him either. And everyone knows the born agains rule the party. Go getem Sarah!
Does it really matter? Ms. Palin has absolutely no chance of being president, especially if she cannot honor the term of Governet for which the people of her state elected her.
I wish she could have stayed , then she would have run against Obama and it would be a sure 4 more years for our Prresident. Now that she is gone, CNN, you need to cut her out of the picture. Who is she anyway? What contributions has she made? She is an ex-beauty queen that needs to promote make up or eye wear. She is pretty but dumb, dumb, dumb.
Very few of the moves she made or things she said were smart. No opinion poll needed to validate that.
It's a good move if she wants to run for doc catcher.
Head full of nothing that is what she is (Palin)
As long as you lefties pay attention the media will feed your need. It is laughable.
For me she did the right thing because I think she was way over her head even as Governor she didn't have what it takes to lead.
I'm not surprised. Give this woman an IQ test and let's finish her off,
Nothing has really changed. The Republicans overwhelmingly like her and the Democrats overwhelmingly hate (not dislike) her. Even the word hate don't really descibe the pure out venom that most Democrats feel toward her. This would not have changed if she had remained Governor or even if she was President of the United States. For some reason, she just lights their fire, even more than their usual whipping boy, Rush Limbaugh.
It's a good move if she wants to run for dog catcher.
Palins only talent: spewing lies and stupidity.
Seriously republicans, wake up and admit this woman is a dingbat. Sure, she's hot in a "naughty librarian" sort of way, and I know that turns on the old republican men, but that alone is no reason to pretend like she can lead a country, let alone a VERY small town.
CNN, please stop!! Nobody cares about Palin. Just let her disappear.
I love how CNN undermines people even before they get out of the gate... yellow journalism at its finest.
And just when you thought it was safe to read the ticker..... there is the IDIOT again. Thanks a lot, CNN. Way to ruin a perfectly good Palin-free day.
Palin's resignation was a smart move, in that abruptly resigning her elected office has surely tainted any future political aspirations... it was also smart for her business-wise, as she's free to relocate closer to the action. She was probably too big of a "star" to stay all the way up there in Alaska, where the action definitely isn't. As for the politicians who require a babbling dunderhead on the campaign trail, more power to 'em... I would just assume say "thanks but no thanks".
WHO CARES???
Why is CNN reporting this non-story?
Yeah, you just gotta hand it to Sarah "I'm Not a Quitter Yet I Quit the Governorship" Palin! Maybe she wants to spend more time with her husband and his allegience in the Alaskan Independence Party, whose chief goal is to unpatriotically sucede their state from the U.S.
the only reason this nit wit is in the news is because CNN you keep digging up crap to print about her. Nobody care, nobody wants to hear what this idiot has to say. She is so NOT important but you all keep printing crap about her.
Palin's resignation certainly took some of the tabloid fodder out of the daily news. Now all we have are her whacked out, uninformed comments on the issues.