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Sarah Palin And Polls; A Little Perspective

By: tomtflorida (Diary)  |  June 26th, 2011 at 02:29 PM  | 

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Another poll out on the 2012 presidential race, yet another slam on Sarah Palin.

Public Policy Polling (PPP), a Democrat aligned polling company, released a new poll stating that “Obama is in a decent position to once again win the key swing state of Florida” and compared his numbers to various Republican challengers;

Obama leads Mitt Romney by the narrow margin of 47-43 (up from 46-44 in March). Obama achieves larger margins against all others leading Tim Pawlenty 48-40, Michele Bachmann 49-40, Herman Cain 48-37, and Sarah Palin 52-40 (52-39 in March).

Of course, CD8 voters in Florida may recall that back in 2010 PPP had the dastardly Alan Grayson up by 13 pts at 40-27. Yes, the very same Alan Grayson who went on to lose to Dan Webster by 18pts.

And further solidifying it’s Democrat leanings, PPP takes a shot at Gov. Scott’s recent polling numbers in yesterday’s release;

“Florida’s pretty emblematic of Barack Obama’s current postion,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Voters there aren’t in love with him but when they look at the Republican alternatives and they look at what Rick Scott’s done while in office as Governor he starts to not look so bad.”

Naturally, the media was only too happy to share these results, yet, seemed to miss entirely an Associated Press/Gfk Poll showing a continued rise in support for Sarah Palin.

Just to keep a little perspective here, bear in mind that polls represent the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statistics to bolster an argument. Which calls to mind the wise words of Mark Twain when he said “there are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics”.

 

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  • gekster

    “The just announced Associated Press/Gfk Poll shows the continued rise in support for Sarah Palin. Palin polls higher than Mitt Romney for favorability, who leads the pack of announced candidates, amongst Republicans.”

    (this is not intended to show support and or endorsment, just facts).

  • exitsfunnel

    Unless I’m misreading it, you’re using polling results amongst Republicans to rebut a different set of general electorate results. I’m not sure what specific point you’re trying to make. Not that any of this really matters, as it’s pretty obvious that Sarah Palin isn’t (and never really was) going to get into the race.

    -exits

    • http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/ tomtflorida

      The point is two-fold, although I may have not spelled it out clear enough. The first point is that PPP, being a a left leaning polling outfit, has motive to reflect poor poll results on Palin. Based on their own actions, it’s fairly clear that the left fears Palin above all others.

      The second point is the media in general, who are quick to report any negative news on Palin, yet, completely ignore positive stories, or in this case, poll results.

  • azaeroprof

    Yes, Palin fares the worst of the Repubs polled here, that is true. But frankly, as a Palin fan, I find this poll quite encouraging. If she trails Obama by only 12 points in a PPP poll, when she:

    a) is not even an announced candidate
    b) has not run a successful campaign for the GOP nomination (yet?)
    c) is a probably the lowest point she could go favorability-wise

    then this is very encouraging news for those of us who would like to see her run.

    Also, the blog that you link to is incorrect in stating that Palin’s favorability numbers (38-55) are for ‘likely voters’. The AP-GfK results are for all adults. I can’t find the presidential horse race poll that you refer to, but I suspect it is also for all adults.

    Bottom line is that, although the other GOP candidates poll better against Obama, these results indicate a Palin-Obama general election would be nowhere near the slam dunk that the media (and some here at RS) would have us believe.