Sarah Palin Resignation a Smart Move?

(Politico) Less than half of Republican voters think Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to resign hurts her chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday.

Forty percent of Republican voters said the governor’s decision did not hurt her odds in 2012, while 24 percent think Palin’s move helps her chances of securing her party’s nomination. Twenty-eight percent said it will have no impact.

Conservatives and moderates are split over the governor’s move. Fifty-two percent of self-identified GOP moderates said Palin’s move will hurt her chances in 2012, while only 37 percent of conservatives think she has harmed her chances.

“In general, the higher a Republican voter’s income level and educational achievement, the more likely he or she is to think Palin’s decision to resign will hurt her bid for the GOP nomination,” the polling firm observed in its analysis of the survey.

Despite Palin’s frequent insistence since announcing her resignation last week that she has no fixed political plans, 61 percent of GOP voters think the Alaska Republican is at least somewhat likely to run in 2012, and 23 percent say she is “very likely” to run.

Only 29 percent said it is somewhat unlikely that Palin will run for the White House, with 4 percent of respondents telling the firm that it is “not at all” likely that the Alaskan will pursue the presidency.

The automated national poll of 750 likely GOP voters was conducted July 6, three days after Palin’s announcement. (By Andy Barr/Politico)

Scott Drake interviews Dr. Allan Saxe who says Governor Palin’s resignation was a great move on her part. “She will now be in a position to raise money, campaign for other politicians and gather up Republican support for a possible nomination,” says Saxe. Saying she has caught the “presidential bug,” Saxe goes on to say, “Her resigning the Governor's Office is a much more straightforward and clear way to approach a higher office than others have done e.g. President Obama who remained in the U.S. Senate while pursuing the Presidency.” He does believe Palin needs to brush up on domestic and international issues and it wouldn’t hurt to come up with some good slogans a la “change you can believe in.” Saxe is an Associate Professor of Political Science at The University of Texas at Arlington.

Comments

[jack m howard]

I read a lot of the posts on yahoo news after I read an article on Palin. Many of them are mean and many of them are downright nasty. I am not a great fan of Sarah Palin but, I think she deserves to be treated respectfuly. I think the women who put her down so harshly are jealous of her appearence. The men are jealous because she carries a bigger gun. Did you see the photo? Whatever, these harsh attack make me more sympathetic for her endeaver. The same goes for president Obama. One thing is for sure I would vote for her in a beauty contest.