I was a little skeptical last week of the Washington Post poll showing that 71% of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, didn't think Sarah Palin was qualified to be President. So we asked it over the weekend and found that 59% of Americans- but only 30% of Republicans- don't think Palin is qualified. That sounds a little more right to me- it was mostly the GOP numbers that I doubted.
Here's what's interesting though- matched up against Barack Obama, Sarah Palin gets 22% from people who don't think she's qualified to be President!
I guess there's easy spin for both sides on that number. From my perspective it's astounding that such a significant portion of Americans are willing to vote for someone they don't think is qualified- this is the White House, not American Idol. But I guess Republicans could make the argument that Obama's just so bad that any Republican would be better than him, whether they consider that Republican to be qualified or not.
We'll have our monthly 2012 poll, including the full numbers on Palin's being qualified or not, tomorrow.
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14 comments:
Hi Tom,
ABC/Washington Post polls are always the worst. They are designed to make Democrats look good. It is not shocking that alot of people who don't think Palin is qualified would vote for her over Obama. Obama has to run on his record in 2012. He can't run on Bush and hope and change.
Why would it surprise you that people would vote for someone they didn't think qualified? In 2008,
0bama's numbers regarding whether or not he was ready to be president, fluctuated between 44 and 47 percent, he went on to win with 53 percent of the vote, so obviously, many people who didn't think he was ready to be president voted for him anyway.
Palin, if she's interested in running, has the rest of 2010, all of 2011, and at least part of 2012 to convince enough people so that she can win the nomination, and several more months of 2012 to get enough people to vote for her to win the general election. Just keep in mind that 30 months prior to 0bama winning his party's nomination, no one gave him any real chance at all.
LOL @ "Clearly Obama is more qualified than Obama."
More seriously, arguments about qualifications won't decide the next election.
The Republican argument will be, yes, that Obama is so bad that a pet rock would be better than he's been.
If Palin can put forward a compelling vision for where the country should go, and Obama has lost the middle of the country (he's lost it for now, but could win it back before then), she can win.
If Obama has recovered his footing and has a firm grip on the middle of the electorate, then no Republican challenger can win.
I know many Hillary Clinton supporters that didn't think Obama was qualified. They would've voted for a potted plant to get a Democrat into the White House. I imagine it's the same for Republicans now.
What you really should do is correlate Obama's approval rating with those who don't think Palin is qualified but will still vote for her. I imagine it's less than 15%.
Can someone please tell me when in recent history we had politicians polled for their qualifications? It didn't happen with Dubya despite only 6 years as Governor. It didn't happen with Edwards despite only 6 years in the Senate. It didn't happen with Obama despite only 150 days worked in the Senate before declaring his candidacy. It hasn't happened with Romney despite only a single term as Governor.
Why the double standard with Palin? I'm not one to casually lob charges of sexism at the MSM, but the only difference I can see between her and the aforementioned politicians is her gender.
Why would you think that Republicans would be willing to vote for Palin than Obama just because he is NOT a Republican? Perhaps they would vote for Palin, even if they didn't feel she was qualified .. because they feel that she is MORE qualified than Obama is. I fall into this category.
It's not very hard, Tom. Ask the 71% who think she's unqualified if they also think Obama is unqualified.
Bet you that 100% of the Republicans, 99% of the Independents and 22% of the Democrats would say the same thing about Obama.
Oh! Sarah would beat Barry-boy hands down, and here's why....
BECAUSE "THE QUALIFICATION THING" IS BECOMING LESS AND LESS IMPORTANT IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS...
1)Obama was clearly less qualified, by any metric, than McCain...
2)GWB was less qualified than Gore and about the same as Kerry...
3)Clinton vs. Bush I, Reagan vs.Carter, Carter v. Ford...on..and on and on...in each and every one of these the "less qualified" has won...Even Kennedy was "less qualified" than Nixon! Keep going back and see which prospective POTUS was "more qualified" than his challenger. The last one was probably FDR!
So, amigos, don't pay any attention to that "less qualified" metric..and in the final analysis, being elected POTUS is like DEATH...if it's your time, it's your time...and the history shows that it's probably the kiss of death to be the "more qualified" candidate.
And that, my friends, is Sarah Palin's most basic metric, and why she'll beat Barry, hands down!
There is much too much being made of Palin being "thin on this experience" and "lacking this other experience".
The beauty of Sarah Palin is that she is smart enough to "know what she doesn't know" and will surround herself with good advisors and then listen to them.
Obama hasn't ever come to grips with the limits of his own knowledge and they are much smaller than he thinks. He surrounds himself with yes-men and listens only to his own advice. Truly a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Obama was elected despite his thin record, because he was not Bush.
Why should the same thing not happen for Palin, even though she has an impressive record in her State.
The question for 2012 should really be, what good will it do for the country?
The left/right back and forth isn't going to do any good as long as the candidates don't have the power for real change.
Less government, less corruption.
More liberty.
Not holding my breath, even after a Palin win.
We can speculate whether Palin qualified or not. Obama proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he is absolutely unqualified and completely incompetent.
The beauty of Sarah Palin is that she is smart enough to "know what she doesn't know" and will surround herself with good advisors and then listen to them.
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If only that were true. You have to read about Palin's past and look at what has been written repeatedly by many different people and you will see she follows NO direction from anyone except possibly her husband. The Presidency is not a co-presidency as she had in Alaska with her husband working beside her as Governor.
With the elections still being over 2 1/2 years away, the GOP has the time to do it right and find the person who is ready, willing and able to lead from day one with a qualified team of assistants beside him/her. It's far too soon to look at any poll and think it means anything in relation to the 2012 election.
Clearly Palin is more qualified than Obama. The chief executive of the largest state with a record of reform is far more qualified than someone who has never been in charge of anything. Even Blanche Lincoln called Obama out on that.
And no one's asking how many people agree that Obama is unqualified to be president. There's absolutely no reason to believe that Palin is any less qualified than Obama.
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