Sarah Palin has long been the bane of liberals, but now she’s apparently beginning to turn off members of her own party.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday morning finds that the percentage among self-identified Republicans who have a favorable opinion of Palin has dropped to a record low, while the number of Republicans who have an unfavorable opinion of the former Alaska governor has risen to a record high. It’s the first time the survey has shown Palin drastically losing support within her own party.
Just 58% of self-identified Republicans said they view Palin favorably, down 12 points since last October. At the same time, the percentage of Republicans who have an unfavorable opinion of her leapt from 21% in October to 37% now.
Palin’s support among all voters is far worse. The current TPM Poll Average shows that over half of all Americans have an unfavorable opinion of her.
While Palin still remains roughly as popular as the other leading contenders for the GOP nomination — New Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee garnered favorability ratings of 55%, 60%, and 61% respectively — none of those other candidates are nearly as polarizing. Only 18% of Republicans viewed Mike Huckabee unfavorably, and just 21% said the same of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who supported his state’s health care overhaul which became a model for Obama’s Republican-loathed health care overhaul law.
Also of note, all of the other leading GOPers either held steady or picked up some support in the latest poll.
For a while, it seemed as if Palin’s biggest obstacle to a run for the presidency would be the general election. But now, it looks like the GOP primary may be a big challenge in itself.
The Washington Post/ABC News poll was conducted March 10-13 among 378 self-identified Republican adults nationwide. It has a margin of error 6.0%.
