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A comparison of the favorability ratings of Sarah Palin and President Obama


Sarah Palin's crib notes in her recent Tea Party speech may have hurt her poll numbers.  AP Photo Ed Reinke

Based on the most recent poll numbers President Obama may welcome a challenge from Sarah Palin in the 2012 presidential election.  President Obama's poll numbers are certainly down from the time of his inauguration but he still consistently scores higher than Sarah Palin in a number of key measurements.

According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll Palin's favorability ratings are at an all-time low.  55% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Palin while just 37% have a favorable view.  Possibly more damaging is the fact that 70% of Americans believe Palin to be unqualified to be President.  It is one thing to disagree with someone's viewpoints but quite another to believe them unqualified for a position.  Even among Republicans just 45% of those polled believed her qualified to become President.

President Obama on the other hand has a favorability rating of 52% with 43% viewing him unfavorably according to Real Clear Politics average of polls.  President Obama has been able to maintain this relatively high favorability rating despite being consistently attacked in his first year by conservatives.  Palin should theoretically be able to benefit by not being forced to make controversial decisions in an official governmental capacity.  Instead Palin's favorabilities have gone down significantly while President Obama's have remained relatively high.

Some may point to Rasmussen's recent poll which has President Obama with a 46% approval rating.  Sarah Palin does not have an approval rating poll since she no longer has an official government position that voters can "approve" or "disapprove" after she quit as Governor of Alaska.  The President certainly has suffered a dip in his first year as almost every President does.  However it is generally much easier to improve approval ratings as compared to favorabilitiy ratings.  If voters simply do not like a candidate that is unlikely to change as this attitude is a reflection on the actual candidate.  Approval ratings on the other hand have gone up and down significantly with changes in economic data or news events.

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Ryan Witt is a graduate of Washington University Law School in St. Louis and has extensive experience teaching government and politics. His articles have been cited by The Washington Post, NPR, Politics Daily, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Media Matters, Daily Kos, and Think Progress among...

Comments

  • progressive thought 2 years ago

    Sarah just wants to start a thermonuclear war. If she get control of the bomb she will start WWIII.

  • walrus 2 years ago

    progressive thought says:
    "Sarah just wants to start a thermonuclear war. If she get control of the bomb she will start WWIII."

    and she will demand a $100,000 speaking fee for every state of the union speech.

  • Gigi 2 years ago

    Witt,

    Now compare 'favorable coverage' and see what you get. I love how the networks spend a few weeks bashing someone or something and then they take a poll and see if it worked.

  • walrus 2 years ago

    Gigi says:
    "Now compare 'favorable coverage' and see what you get. I love how the networks spend a few weeks bashing someone or something and then they take a poll and see if it worked."

    describes Foxnews perfectly

  • Ryan Witt 2 years ago

    Gigi: I guess you are saying Obama receives a lot of favorable coverage. You mean like the "favorable coverage" he receives on Fox News? You are right just today I was watching the cable "news" show with the highest ratings. It is called Glenn Beck and his favorable coverage of Obama was so sickening I just had to turn it off. Oh wait, actually that is Palin who continually gets favorable coverage from Fox News. Now she can promote herself using that platform since she works there. Yet still her favorable ratings suck.

  • Doc_Navy 2 years ago

    Not sure WHY you guys are even comparing a VICE-presidential candidate who LOST with an actual President... Unless of course, you think she's, umm... you know, competition?

    In which case, what does that say about what you think about that President?

    You guys paint Palin as some sort of gun-toting, slobbering, white trash incompetent and Obama as this smooth, hip, intellectually superior, grand unifier.

    Do the fans of a mega-rockstar really CARE about the popularity of a so-called peon?

    Just askin'.

    Doc

  • fact is 2 years ago

    Sarah is just another tool for Zionists to use to meet their objectives of world domination.

  • Gigi 2 years ago

    Witt,

    You have to 'pay' to watch Fox News, otherwise you get pro Obama anti Palin. I know, because I don't get cable. Why the hostility? It's the truth.

    Try 'googling' them right now. Most of the articles are still supportive of Obama and critical of Palin. It's not an 'opinion', it is 'fact'.

  • Sick Twisted Freak #368 2 years ago

    I for one am terrified of Sarah Palin. She has proven that she "won't go with the flow because then she would be swimming with dead fish". Also, in her half term as Gov. she clearly showed that she "was a talented point guard that could dribble down court and keep her eye on the basket" These are the kinds of things that keep Democrats up late at night.
    We know that she is the brains behind the new conservative movement and she will unite the TEA party people and runoff all of the RINOS and pare down the Republican party to a more manageable group of about 50 people.

  • progressive thought 2 years ago

    Any liberal voice that would watch Glenn Beck for even a short span of time is a sell-out to our glorious cause.

  • Sick Twisted Freak #370 2 years ago

    This just in ........I believe that as a Progressive, Sarah Palin is going to ruin the Republican party. She is selling out to the State run media and is becoming an elitist DC beltway insider.

  • progressive thought 2 years ago

    All presidents have historically suffered massively huge dips in their first year poll numbers. The democrats need to explain it better. Once the public understands what is in the bill they will be more accepting.

  • Snark 2 years ago

    Politico has a different take on the MSM/Palin relationship, Gigi.

    www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32885.html

  • Doc_Navy 2 years ago

    @Progressive thought,

    Hate to break it to ya buddy, GW Bush had HIGHER approval ratings at the end of his first year than he did at the start.

    In fact, If you compare G-Dubb's first year to Obama's... well Let's just say that 'Bammie's playing second fiddle to Dubbs.

    Here's the numbers for each's 1st year:

    GW Bush: 7Feb'00: 55% Appr, 16% Dis 13Dec'00: 86% Appr, 8% Dis
    BH Obama: 28Jan'09: 65% Appr, 16% Dis 9Dec'09: 50% Appr, 44% Dis

    Some perspective, it took Dubbs over THREE YEARS to drop below 50% approval rating, and even then it hovered between 48% and 57% for another YEAR AND A HALF! (meaning into his second term)

    In contrast, it only took Bammie 8.5 ~MONTHS~ to drop below 50% after which he has yet to recover. Also, at this moment in time there are statistically EXACTLY the same amount of people (.6+/-) that DISAPPROVE as approve of Bammie's leadership. Bro, that's a BIG DEAL, because it means that if Bammie ran for President now... he'd loose.

    Doc

  • Frontier 2 years ago

    It's too bad that everything we do today is a reaction to the disaster that was Bush.

  • walrus 2 years ago

    Doc_Navy,
    you are in the navy, and you call you commander in chief "Bammie"? WHAT KIND OF F**KING TRAITOR ARE YOU? You are against your commander in chief? Who are you spying for? You certainly don't work for the United States Navy. You might get paid by them, but your loyalties are AGAINST our cammander in chief. F**KING TRAITOR! F**KING SPY!

  • Finn Barbarosa 2 years ago

    I had a similar reaction when I read Doc Navy's post. He does not honor his profession.

  • Doc_Navy 2 years ago

    Walrus,

    I've about had it with you. You are in no place to judge me.

    Two words:

    F**k off.

    Doc

  • walrus 2 years ago

    Doc_Navy says:
    "Walrus,
    I've about had it with you. You are in no place to judge me.
    Two words:
    F**k off.
    Doc "

    quit flirting with me, I'm straight...I don't appreciate you inviting me to your F**k off...I'm not that way.

  • Doc_Navy 2 years ago

    BTW, I notice that AGAIN you inject yourself into the discission, AGAIN you have no answer to facts, AGAIN you make the discussion about me. You're pathetic.

    Doc

  • walrus 2 years ago

    Doc_Navy says:
    "BTW, I notice that AGAIN you inject yourself into the discission, AGAIN you have no answer to facts, AGAIN you make the discussion about me. You're pathetic.
    Doc "

    pathetic is a traitor that takes money from the U.S.A. then badmouths his own commander in chief...that is really pathetic and should be investigated by homeland...you are what is called an internal enemy.

  • Doc_Navy 2 years ago

    that all you got? Because I called Obama "Bammie" I'm a traitor, and a spy? If that 's the best you got, and YOU are an example of Progressivism, and the Democratic party... I feel better.

    No wonder you guys are tanking it, and loosing ground to conservative. 2010's gonna be a BAD year for you.

    Doc

  • Sailor Jimm 2 years ago

    Doc please stop with the Glenn Beck Progressive BS. To think that you might actually be a Navy officer would be an embarrassment to our Armed Forces.

  • Doc_Navy 2 years ago

    oooh, ouch! Stop it, you're hurting my feelings.

    That's it guys, keep dodging the facts.

    Doc

  • Frontier 2 years ago

    If I thought you had some fact that actually supported your anti-American sentiments I would address them, but your hatred of so called "progressives" is taken straight from the Glenn Beck show. You put more faith in an idiot that likes to speak in a Kermit the frog voice than your Commander in Chief. Pull yourself together man!

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