Sarah Palin still the choice of GOP moderates

Via Tom Jensen at the PPP blog:

For the second month in a row we found Sarah Palin as the most popular of the leading 2012 GOP hopefuls among moderate Republicans. 64% have a positive opinion of her compared to 57% for Newt Gingrich, 53% for Mike Huckabee, and 45% for Mitt Romney.

Gov. Palin has arguably been the choice of conservative Republicans since the 2008 election in early November. Now she is winning over the GOP's more moderate voters. And according to a Pew Research poll released June 24, her favorability ratings have increased by 6 points among independents and 7 points with Democrats.

There's no question that Sarah Palin is broadening her appeal.

- JP

Media to Sarahcuda: "I just can't quit you"

The Pew Research Center has published a report by from its Project for Excellence in Journalism which shows that the third most frequently reported story was the media non-stop chattering over the July 3 announcement by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that she will resign before the end of the month. The report says she "may now be a cultural figure as well as a political one":

Palin's resignation proved to be fodder for the politically-oriented talk-show circuit. Questions about her motives and future plans -- along with widely divergent opinions of the governor -- filled 19% of the airtime studied last week on the 13 radio and cable news talk shows in the News Coverage Index.

The media themselves became part of the story... The Palin storyline featured a theme that she herself has pushed -- from the outset of her appearance in the campaign and around her resignation -- that an unfair and unfriendly media corps has hounded the governor and her family.

Pew says that Gov. Palin was the number one topic on talk radio and the number two subject of prime-time cable television talk show chatter. Much of the discussion consisted of speculation about why she is resigning, despite the fact that the governor explained that a constant string of politically-motivated "ethics" complaints had excessively burdened the executive branch of her state's government in terms of time and money:

A July 6 ABC News story posted on Google News referenced the "many lingering questions" about the move. "On many blogs ... speculation ran rampant that a scandal is coming or that another shoe will drop. But no evidence of anything more than rehashed rumors has appeared so far."

In addition to the Palin guessing game, some of the narrative defaulted to a more polarizing and politicized view of the former vice-presidential candidate, with critics attacking Palin and supporters attacking the media.

On his July 8 MSNBC show, liberal Keith Olbermann declared that, "It appears to be Gov. Palin's main activity ... even with two full weeks left in office -- posting to her Twitter page."

"Twitter," he said, "rhymes with quitter."

On his July 6 radio show, conservative Sean Hannity trained his guns on the press treatment of Palin, declaring it "a media ... onslaught" and "media bashing" of the governor.

"Of all the lines of argument concerning her resignation as governor," he declared, "there was none more disingenuous than ‘well, she abandoned her post.'" Citing another commentator, Hannity noted that various politicians had left office early, including Obama who didn't serve out his term as senator when elected president.

- JP

Hawkins: Palin's the one to beat for 2012 GOP nod

At Right Wing News, John Hawkins has been looking at the results of the latest Pew Research Poll, and he notes that her favorables are on the rise since the last Pew survey, while her unfavorables are on the way down.

While he still hasn't made up his mind whether he'll support Gov. Palin for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, Hawkins says there's no denying the the governor is the favorite To Get The Republican Party's nomination three years from now:

"Having a 16 point advantage with primary voters over the man who would probably be your toughest competitor is no small thing."

[...]

"What this adds up to is that Sarah Palin is in a very strong position for 2012 and would, at least for the moment, still have to be considered the candidate to beat for the Republican nomination."

She's definitely on a roll.

- JP