Zogby poll: Gov. Palin is person of the Year for 2010

Sarah Palin put the Tea Party on the map
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According to an online survey of 1,950 adults conducted by Zogby International from Dec 8 to Dec. 10, Sarah Palin is the Person of the Year for 2010. The poll, also names former President George W. Bush as the Person of the Decade:

Palin garners a 21% response with President Barack Obama claiming 16% for person of the year, and Glenn Beck tied with Julian Assange with 13%. None of the other seven people listed (General David Petraeus, Mark Zukerberg, Hillary Clinton, Conan O'Brien, Steve Jobs, LeBron James, Robert Gates) in the survey pull in more than 6%.

Democrats mostly choose President Obama (33%) and Assange (19%), while Republicans go for Palin (39%) and Beck (25%), and independents split their votes between Palin (17%), Beck (16%) and Assange (15%). President Obama only pulled 8% of the Independent vote.

Former President George W. Bush pulls in 44% of the respondents for Person of the Decade. President Obama comes in second with 20% and Osama Bin Laden garners 11%.

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Meanwhile, even liberal Taylor Marsh, in that familiar condescending manner, opines that TIME magazine should have chosen Sarah Palin over Mark Zuckerberg for its Person of the Year:

"The fact remains that Sarah Palin put the Tea Party on the map and pushed their presence and validated them through victory after victory. Considering they’ll own the House come January, bringing into Washington the most conservative body we’ve seen in decades, which has also changed the behavior of establishment Republicans because of the Tea Party rise, Sarah Palin would have been a raucously interesting selection."

- JP

Enter Stage Right's Person of the Year for 2009

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We've been tracking some of the awards, titles and nominations Sarah Palin has been receiving as we roll into a new year here and here, but this one deserves its own thread.

Enter Stage Right's "person of the Year" award has a history. The conservative website has named a winner in this category for each of the past fourteen years, and now former Governor Sarah Palin has won it two years in a row. This time, says ESR's Steven Martinovich, she edged out Talker Glenn Beck for the title:

"When 2009 began one might be forgiven for thinking Palin's star had shone brightly before then faded away like those of so many other vice presidential nominees cursed with being on a losing ticket. With the media's attention focused on Obama and the Democrats, Palin finished what would be a best-selling book and began traveling the United States and building a web of contacts and organizations that will likely come into service in 2012. Palin's concerns weren't merely mercenary, however. She was one of the most effective critics of Obamacare and forced the media to address proposals -- such as the alleged death panels -- that they would have preferred to ignore."

Looking to the future, Martinovich says, the first woman to be the Republican Party's  vice presidential candiate faces prospects which are difficult to predict. Like most pundits who have closely followed Sarah Palin's career, we're sure he would say that is largely up to her. And we're in full agreement on his closing point:

"Despite what her critics argue, and as she capably proved in 2009, Palin brings passion, insight and a Reagan-esque positive attitude about America and on that she has the current monopoly."

Read the original ESR post here. Congratulations to Gov. Palin! 

- JP