Poll: Just 22% See Palin as Effective President
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
Overall views of Sarah Palin remain negative, according to the latest CBS News poll, with fewer than one in four Americans voicing a favorable opinion of the former Alaska governor. Almost half (48 percent) view her unfavorably. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats or independents to view her favorably.
Although she has not ruled out a bid for the White House in 2012, few Americans (22 percent) think Palin has the ability to be an effective president, while 64 percent say she's not up to the job. This view is shared by a majority of Democrats and independents. While Republicans are more divided, more of them think she does not have the ability to be an effective president than think she does.
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Even many Tea Partiers aren't jumping on board the Palin 2012 bandwagon. Less than half (47 percent) of those who describe themselves as Tea Party supporters think Palin has the ability to be an effective president, while 39 percent don't.
Tea Party Views
While most Americans have yet to form an opinion of the Tea Party, among those who have, views are mixed. Twenty-two percent of Americans voice a favorable opinion of the Tea Party movement, while almost as many (21 percent) view the movement unfavorably. Most people (56 percent) say they're undecided or haven't heard enough about the movement yet.
Among voters overall, a candidate's connection to the Tea Party may be more of a hindrance than a help. Only 16 percent of Americans who know about the Tea Party say a candidate's affiliation with the movement would make them more likely to vote for that candidate, and even more (29 percent) say that would make them less likely to support the candidate. For almost half, though, affiliation with the Tea Party would make no difference.
Not surprisingly, Tea Party affiliation is much more appealing to Republican voters.
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,129 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone October 1-5, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines 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.