It seems Sarah Palin has worn out her welcome with Republicans. An astounding 71% of GOP voters say they don’t want Palin to run for president, according to a new poll by FOX News, with 25% supporting a bid and 4% unsure.
The numbers are brutal for Palin, who was long regarded as a potential frontrunner for the 2012 nomination. Even among Tea Party-identifying Republicans she fares poorly: 68% say she shouldn’t run versus only 28% who say she should. The numbers aren’t that far off from the general electorate, 74% of whom don’t want her to run versus 20% who do. Outside of Tea Partiers, more than 70% of every demographic broken out in the poll’s crosstabs — men, women, white voters, non-white voters, voters with college degrees, voters without college degrees — are against a Palin run.
As TPM noted this week, there hasn’t exactly been a clamor going up among Republicans for a Sarah Palin run while she’s tested the waters in recent weeks. Maybe the disastrous box office returns for a movie celebrating her Alaska governorship were an early warning sign.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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