Poll: Most Say Palin Resigned To Help Her Career
(CBS)
Just 24 percent of those accept Palin's explanation that she resigned because it was the right thing to do for Alaska. More than twice that percentage – 52 percent – cited her political ambition as the reason for her resignation. An additional 14 percent said they don't know the reason.
Even Republicans are skeptical of the explanation, with a higher percentage saying Palin resigned for her political career (36 percent) than saying she did so for Alaska (31 percent).
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed expect Palin to run for president in 2012, while 43 percent say she will not. If she runs, she'll likely face widespread skepticism: As CBS News revealed Monday morning, just 22 percent say Palin has the ability to be an effective president. Sixty-five percent say she does not.
Less than one in four Americans – 23 percent – hold a favorable view of Palin. Thirty-seven percent hold an unfavorable view of the former Republican vice presidential nominee. Another 39 percent are undecided.
In November of last year, 37 percent of registered voters held a favorable view of Palin. While her unfavorable rating has held steady since November, the percentage of undecided voters has risen as her approval rating has fallen. Forty-five percent of Republicans now say they are undecided about Palin.Read The Complete Poll (PDF)
One recent Palin argument does seem to be resonating with the American people: Her criticism of the media. Forty-six percent say Palin gets harder media treatment than other politicians, while just seven percent say she gets easier treatment. Forty-four percent say she gets the same treatment as her peers.
During the campaign, however, an even larger percentage – 54 percent – said Palin was getting harder treatment from the media.
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 944 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone July 9-12, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 137 CommentsThe Alaska Fund Trust
July 22, 2009
Thank you for being here today. My name is Kristan Cole, Trustee to the Alaska Fund Trust. And this is the Trust's attorney in Alaska, Jon Givens.
I am here to address the unusual letter that was leaked yesterday, the contents of which are unprecedented in the history of our country, suggesting that a legal defense fund could somehow be unethical. This is particularly notable, and concerning, in light of the fact that the Trust, on my instructions, has not paid even one penny to Gov. Palin or her lawyers. I issued that instruction because I was aware the Board was reviewing this matter.
This Trust was created by a team of expert lawyers from around the country. It was thoroughly vetted for compliance with federal and state law and trust law. So far Mr. Daniel is the only lawyer in the country who has questioned a legal defense fund despite the fact that his firm has set up legal defense funds for other office holders. Because his initial review was unprecedented and contained factual errors it was my understanding that Gov. Palin's legal team, including Mr. Van Flein, were in on-going discussions with Mr. Daniel. The matter was not final.
I want to be clear on a point that has been misrepresented: The Governor is not and was not involved with the Trust. The Governor has never worked on or with the Trust. The Governor has not even accepted or requested one penny from the Trust or quite frankly anything of me. And I have never expected anything from her. Really it?s quite the contrary; as I, and many other caring folks across the country have only sought to help with this legal burden.
The first and only time I have spoken with the Governor about the Trust was yesterday to alert her that I was responding to this violation of the law and leak of preliminary and confidential materials from the complainant.
There is a loophole in Alaska law. Alaskans can file frivolous complaints against the Governor - violate the law and alert the media they are doing so, all the complaints can be dismissed and yet the Governor has to personally pay for representation. Legislators covered themselves with a law that warrants automatic dismissal of a complaint if it is leaked to the public.
It has been quite obvious to me, and to other every day citizens like me, that over the last several months that something needed to be done to help the Palins with the overwhelming crush of frivolous ethics complaints.
In their own humble way, the Palins never asked for help. The Governor never even asked anyone to contribute to this legal expense fund. This trust, and the thousands and thousands of dollars raised, were the results of hard working Americans and their outpouring of support. It is disgraceful that anyone would assume that the thousands of people who sent in $5, $10 or $50 intended to "influence" the governor's official actions in Alaska! And this in a state where a half dozen legislators have been convicted of corruption as well as the previous governor's chief of staff. Not one ethics complaint was filed against these individuals who were convicted, but this governor is harassed for having her picture taken with a fish, wearing a jacket, answering press questions and giving a speech.
A few select people have abused our ethics act. The public release of a preliminary document in violation of state law follows that pattern. The people of this state are losing hope that the ethics act has any real purpose anymore and that?s incredibly sad as ethics are so important. Mr. Daniel's preliminary assessment, unprecedented in history and harshly criticized by legal scholars, does nothing to restore credibility to this process.
Numerous individuals thought to help the Palins - not just me. But when I was asked, I was doing research of my own and determined that I would put my name on a Trust already going through an intense legal process throughout the country to ensure that this one was airtight and complied with every possible law under the sun. And this one does. It is one of the most restrictive and transparent trusts of its kind. The validity of the Trust is strong. It is unprecedented in every way imaginable... all donations must be under $150, no donations from lobbyists, and nothing accepted from foreign nationals to name a few. No trust has ever been found to be a violation of ethical standards for any governor, former president, senator, or house member, or former member of Congress. But this Trust which has more severe donation and donor limits than any trust in the history of legal defense trusts might violate ethical rules?
oh great.. ladypirate adds in the some of the least educated states in the country to prove support for palin like that's anything to be proud of.
Least educated states? I don't think so! In my area alone there are at least eight universities within about a 150 mile radius of where I live. You are forgetting that Baylor, Vanderbilt, Duke, Southern Methodist University, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas, Ole Miss, etc, are all highly regarded universities and they are all in the south and southwest and in the Bible belt!
Yes, it is something to be proud of to be from the south! I remind you that many of our presidents were southerners! I am very proud to be a southerner! I refuse to be otherwise!
reallymeanit is completely stupid. he points out obama's error when he misspoke about how many states there are as proof he's some sort of idiot. i think it's absolutely hilarious that this one little mistake he made is all you neocons have to hold against him. the guy is damn near a rocket scientist and you point out something so stupid as this. sarah palin can't even think herself out of a wet paper bag, much less tell anyone anything about the country's constitution, laws or history while obama can recite all of it straight from memory. go ahead clinging to a simple error if that makes you feel good. it only makes you look stupid
If Obama does so well with just his memory why does he need a teleprompter? If he can remember the constitution so well why can't he remember his own speeches? Without a teleprompter he just stands there with his mouth open and looks like a deer caught in headlights!
And by the way, this "rocket scientist" has got our country into so much debt in the last six months that our gggggggrandchildren will still be paying our debts 100's of years from now if our country lasts that long and he doesn't destroy it or give it to our enemies before he's out of office!
sorry, countrygirl.. it appears you dont read much. sarah palin was running alaska--- a welfare state!!! they pay almost nothing into the country by way of federal taxes while getting way more back than their share in pork dollars!! why don't you go read a book or something? per person, alaska receives way more than any other state in the whole U.S. how is that right when alaskans get back at least a 1000 dollar check every year for doing nothing? why dont they use that money to fund their own programs instead of using the federal government and the tax dollars from populated states as welfare?
I do read books! In fact I've read two recently! The first one is the Holy Bible, which obviously you've never read! I suggest you read it! It will do you good! You might learn something!
Another one that I've read is "The Case Against Barack Obama" by David Freddoso. I suggest you read that one too! You will learn things about Obama that you obviously don't know. I guarantee you won't like what you read and you'll have a whole different outlook about him after you've read it! He is definitely not the saint or the savior that you think he is!
And about that $1000 check that Alaskans receive, you're just jealous that you don't get one! You would think it was all fine and good if you received one every year!
like maybe starting with education? you write like crap. i can't believe people like you can vote. and you illiterate fools seem to love palin. god help us.
Look who's talking! You don't even know how to use capital letters!
you're retarded again. it was determined that the mccain/palin campaign were the main perpetrators of attack ads while obama/biden did not follow suit. it was sarah palin "taking hte gloves off" and mccain accusing obama of so many things. obama stayed away from this high school tactic and won over voters overwhelmingly because he appeared to be the most intellectual, mature candidate. sarah palin was busy boring everyone with william ayers and obama being some so called friend to terrorists while she was a part of the secessionist party back in her home state of alaska. the leader of that group she likes so much died in a plastic explosives sale gone bad cause he was gonna fight to gain independence even if it meant bloodshed. that leader named joe vogler said he hated america and wouldnt be buried under her flag. he once worked with iran to go to the united nations to help him have alaska secede from the union. THESE are the people sarah palin hangs around with. no one was gonna listen to that old bag that lies about selling jets on ebay, bridges to nowhere, and truly loving america when all she ever really wanted was to make alaska its own country and be its president.
McCain and Palin didn't attack nearly as much as they should have! Sarah wanted to but McCain held her back and wouldn't allow her to attack the way that she wanted to. It was a big mistake! He should have turned her loose and let her attack! It probably was one thing that caused him to lose the election.
By the way Sarah Palin isn't the only one who has talked about Obama's terrorist friends. If you really want to know about Barack Obama you should read a book called "The Case Against Barack Obama" by David Freddoso. I guarantee you won't like what you read! The Palin's friends pale in comparison to Obama's!
ladypirate is an absolute idiot. she is actually criticizing levi for wanting to see his son more often when one of the biggest problems we have in this country are men not caring to see their children enough. my god.. i cant even describe just how many ways you're a complete idiot and how absolutely terrible the palins are for NOT wanting a child to see his father. wow.... you need some serious help. levi was being shown off on stage by sarah when it was good for her pretending to care about family values then shoved to the side when it didn't serve her purpose. he is nothing but a guy that wants to have contact with his son. it took him going to the major news outlets to have some leverage against the governor who has used her office more than once to settle personal vendettas. we all know that she makes her enemies live's hell if she wants.. levi had no choice but to use whatever means necessary to ensure he could be a part of his son's life. you're actually dfending palin for keeping his son away from him and criticizing levi for wanting to see his son? get your head checked
If Levi cares so much for his son and really wants to be allowed spend more time with him he should get up off his lazy ### and go to work and support his son! As long as he doesn't send Bristol one dime of support for their baby he shouldn't expect to be allowed to see him! As long as he doesn't have a job and doesn't support the child Bristol and the Palins have every right in the world to limit and control his visits! In fact he's lucky to get to see the child at all! A real man supports his children!
by ladypirate2 July 14, 2009 7:39 PM ED
Sarah Palin is a public figure, not a private citizen yet, so its not just her business, its our business. Also, Levi Johnson was there living with the Palin's and you were not, he just repeated what he heard Sarah Palin say from her own mouth with his own ears, so Levi being a idiot as you call him is irrelevant. If you and the other Sarah Palin supporters want to make the Palin's rich by throwing your money away that's your business
Just because you hear something doesn't mean that you should repeat it or that you even have the right to repeat it!
Could she actually write and edit her own book? What would it be about?
How McCain's staff treated her or how she could not jog or find anyone to pray with her. What animals she learned to hunt and kill since she was a little girl. How she was made fun of by the media and how our media needs to be reformed. How this world would have been a better place with her and McCain in the White House. How she can take care of her children and two babies while being a governor. If she writes like she speaks, we may have to read the same excerpt more than once to understand what she means? She will explain how you can see Russia out of her window......
je ne connais pas sarah palin, cela dit elle a demissionné c'est un fait, les raisons ne regardent qu'elle, ce qu'elle envisage de faire aussi, ne regarde qu'elle, l'ambition de se lancer dans la
course présidentielle aussi ne regarde qu'elle, et c'est son droit aussi, si elle a un plus a donner si elle arrive a convaincre ses concitoyens..qu'elle peut offrir "plus" pourquoi pas au revoir
I also think it was strategic to give her "hangin' it up" news conference during the heart of the massive Michael Jackson headlines, in hopes that it wouldn't get as much attention. Sorry Sarah, didn't work. We see through your pretty face....which will continue to bring you great fortunes....but nothing in terms of leadership.
Why is CBS and Letterman so obsessed with this woman ? There is something very weird about this.
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