Alaska Politics Blog : Pew poll: Palin popular among Republicans but polarizing

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Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad covers Alaska issues, including the congressional delegation, from Washington, D.C., for McClatchy Newspapers. Before joining the bureau in 2007, she spent seven years as a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covered politics, government and the state legislature. E-mail Erika at ebolstad@adn.com.

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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Pew poll: Palin popular among Republicans but polarizing

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: June 24, 2009 - 12:29 pm

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From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

Gov. Sarah Palin “continues to be a divisive figure among the general public” but is hugely popular among Republicans, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center.

The survey, conducted June 10-14 among 1,502 adults reached on landlines and cell phones “finds that impressions of Sarah Palin have not changed much since the presidential campaign.”

The survey asked people if they have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Michael Steele. The survey didn’t ask if they would vote for them.

Nearly as many of the people surveyed said they have an unfavorable impression of Palin (44 percent) as have a favorable view of her (45 percent). But Palin had an overall higher favorability rating than any of the other three, with Romney in second at 40 percent. Romney’s unfavorables, though, were only at 28 percent and 32 percent said they didn’t know.

Just 12 percent of the people reached didn’t know how they felt about Palin -- far fewer than for any of the others in the survey.

Palin had a much better favorability rating among the Republicans surveyed than Romney, Gingrich and Steele. Seventy three percent had a favorable impression of her -- and just 17 percent unfavorable. Again, there were a lot more people who hadn’t made up their minds about the others than Palin.

“And Palin continues to be overwhelmingly popular with key parts of the GOP base – white evangelical Republicans (84% favorable) and conservative Republicans (80% favorable),” Pew said.

Here’s more of what Pew said about Palin:

Almost a year after capturing the attention of the political world as John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin remains a broadly popular figure within the Republican Party, despite receiving mixed reviews from the public as a whole.

Palin received her highest overall favorability rating of 50% in mid-September 2008, shortly after McCain named her as his vice-presidential running mate. At that time just 34% expressed an unfavorable opinion of the Alaska governor, while 16% offered no opinion. But her favorability slipped later in the campaign. In mid-October, more people expressed an unfavorable opinion of Palin (48%) than a favorable opinion (42%). Since the election, public views of Palin have shifted only slightly.

Unlike Romney, Palin’s ratings continue to be much better among conservative Republicans (80%) than among moderates and liberals in the party (62%). And while positive views of Palin have slipped among non-evangelical Republicans (from 77% to 67%), they remain overwhelmingly positive among white evangelical Republicans (84% now, 85% last October).

Notably, as was the case during the election, Palin is rated somewhat better by men than she is by women. About half of men (48%) say their overall opinion of Palin is favorable, while 40% say it is unfavorable. Among women, the picture is reversed: 48% offer an unfavorable view, 41% a favorable one. This difference largely arises from gender differences in party affiliation. For instance, among Republicans, men and women express similar views of Palin (73% favorable).

Palin receives a more favorable rating from those with a high school degree or less (48% favorable, 36% unfavorable) than she does from college graduates (41% favorable, 52% unfavorable). Regionally, she is somewhat better regarded in the South (49% favorable) than she is in the Northeast (39% favorable).