Palin Is Most Popular GOP Figure, Romney Comes In Second: Poll

Sarah Palin is the most popular figure in the GOP, according to a Pew Research Center poll released on Wednesday.

The poll surveyed leading GOP politicians' favorability among both Republicans and the general public. Palin took the lead in terms of popularity within the party, with 73% of Republicans giving her a favorable rating.

Among the general public, however, Palin was found to be a particularly polarizing figure. The Alaska governor's rating among all voters was split nearly in half: 45% favorable versus 44% unfavorable.

According to the poll, Mitt Romney is the second-most popular GOP figure. He received a 57% favorability rating among Republicans and among the general public, a 40% rating. Overall, Romney's ratings are an improvement over last year on nearly every front, meaning he's gotten more popular since his presidential bid ended.

The other GOP figures in the survey did not fare as well as Palin and Romney. Newt Gingrich had a 55% favorability rating among Republicans and a 22% unfavorable rating. Michael Steele, meanwhile, had only a 28% favorability rating. A full 58% of Republicans said they do not know enough about the RNC chairman to register an opinion.

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Comments

[AlaninElkGrove]

The Aleut Contessa her squeeze, the First secessionist, and the extended family would make a fine family portrait in the White House.

Me thinks she can see North Korea from her house...

[weatherwaxx]

But let's not forget that at this point, only 25% of Americans admit to even *being* Republicans.

[AbstractImp]

Among voters likely to live long enough to vote in 2012
Palin gained a full 1%
Romney came in at 0.5%

Of course these are raw numbers,
but the usual loves of republicans came in far ahead of these:

Yelling hate into microphones came in first
Blaming Obama for everything came in second
Running off to foreign countries on weekend flings placed third
And grandstanding over Iran came in fourth.

[Ponderus]

This is like saying rabies is more popular than bubonic plague.

[NURREDIN]

Please run her in 2012!

[Cosmic-Zantor]

Sarah Palin is representative of everything wrong with this country. She is an embodiment of all of our darkest flaws as a culture, and it's a sad state of affairs that such a person would be idolized by a major political party.

Why have the Republicans latched on to and idolized these blatantly ignorant, over the top hateful buffoons like Palin, Limbaugh, "Joe the Plumber", Glen Beck, etc?

A vast majority of Americans are moderates. How does it make sense to the GOP to embrace this nutcase fringe segment of society?

These people are living in a completely different culture, and time era, than the majority of Americans, and their influence is corrosive to the rest of us.

[CrashDarby]

In aug 08 Obama raised $60 million. Then Sarah was nominated. In sept 08 Obama raised $150 million. She gave McCain a 10 day bump and then the country realized what a joke she was. Obama never looked back. 8 months later the GOP has never been in worse shape. Thank you Sarah Palin!!!!

[bronceye]

Craziest of the crazies, quite an honor, if you're crazy.

[athenasword]

I mean to quote Wanda Sykes when I say... that would be like a meeting of Dr. Evil (or in this case Miss Evil and Mr. No)

[denicci1977]

No one in their right mind would vote for Palin. Picture her giving a speech in Cairo like President Obama did. Her foreign policy experience is peeking at Russia from her house or the ride through Kuwait to stop for gas. Give me a break. What honest good reason should she be elected to POTUS when she can't even manage her own family or state ?

[lvogt]

It's the national battle of the Lilliputians.

[Christian]

Can you imagine what the campaign for president would be like if Palin is the republican choice? Representing the hard core rightistias, it could be the dirtiest most ignorant, fact free, under the belt campaign in history. Ignorance will reign supreme in the republican camp.

[lvogt]

And they will be funded with billions of dollars from oil, drug and insurance companies most of which will be skimmed off by crass opportunists disguised as consultants and ministers.

[zezel]

Really? As bad as Obama's lying, misrepresenting, false promise campaign? Get off the weed.

[billyfromphilly]

Yes you muffinhead!!!! Worse than Obama. If you bought the kool-aid that Obama would waive a wand and fix all of our problems (most of which caused by debunked conservative values) in 2 weeks, then you're an idiot. If you have any legitimate gripes, name them. Otherwise, try to convince me that Governor Palin is anything but an fear and hate mongering cheerleader for the most overprivileged oil magnates or the most ignorant right wing uber religious zealots. I'd love my assessment of her to be wrong, I really would.

[BannedNBoston]

MccLame and Palin will run in 2012 they have been "VETTED"

[AFAN]

She maybe popular in the GOP base but she won't get the moderate and non-white voters. Just watch when she start campaigning she'll use wedge issues and won't attend any civil rights groups events which means she'll get less then 10%-15% of non-white voters.

[oldguru]

That really says a lot about the intelligence of the Republican voters.