Palin Still Rules, But Romney is Gaining

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Holly Bailey

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Holly Bailey

Who stands to benefit the most from Mark Sanford’s troubles? Well, amid all the news yesterday, we missed this new poll the finds Mitt Romney's numbers are inching up, not just among Republicans but the general public According to the latest Pew survey, 40 percent of those surveyed viewed Romney “favorably”—about a 10 percent increase compared to February 2008 when he quit the GOP presidential primary. Still, Sarah Palin remains the most popular GOP figure, with a 45 percent favorable rating. Among Republicans alone, Palin is WAY more popular than Romney, with a 73 percent favorable rating compared to Romney’s 57 percent. And that’s a very important number—after all a candidate has to make it through the GOP primary first.

The good news for Romney: While she remains enormously popular among Republicans, Palin’s numbers have been pretty steady since last fall, while Romney is moving up. According to Pew, Romney has made equal gains among both conservative Republicans and those who describe themselves as moderate or liberal Republicans. If there is a push to move the party toward the middle—as some suggest the GOP should do in order to be more competitive with Barack Obama—Romney seems to be the candidate best positioned to benefit from that change.

But what will Romney’s message be? With some exceptions, the Massachusetts governor has largely been laying low lately, which is a smart political move. We’ve seen him talking out talking about the economy and the dangers of Obama’s spending habits, but Romney does not seem to be positioning himself to win over social conservatives as he did in the last campaign—although it is still very early. After the 2008 primary, many wondered what Romney’s political fate would have been had he just run on the moderate record he had as a governor, as opposed to moving toward the right. Although these numbers won’t matter in the GOP primary, Pew finds that Romney has made his biggest gain among so-called independent voters. Back in 2008, just 29 percent of that important voting bloc had a favorable view of Romney, while 46 percent didn’t like him. Today, those numbers have-- to use a phrase that haunted Romney during the campaign--flip-flopped. Now, 44 percent of independents view Romney favorably. Those are important stats for a party looking to mount a strong opponent against Obama.

Tag(s): Mitt Romney, Republicans, Sarah Palin

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Member Comments

Posted By: renoriverlady (June 26, 2009 at 6:57 PM)

Politics is getting funnier & funnier

Last time the Dems had a woman or a black

BLACK MAN WINS

GOP offered old white guy

BLACK MAN WINS

FAST FORWARD to 2012

Dems have Black Guy

GOP has, ah um, OH YA

menapausal street rat crazy woman

or Morman

GOOD LOOKING MORMAN WINS

AND THE WINNER IS?

not the conservitives---they are always so afraid of anyone who is not WHITE, CHRISTIAN, MALE

so I guess liberals---cause they love great satire. Never thought I'd see the day when TWO REALLY SCARY CANDIDATES WERE RUNNING!

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Posted By: MJ000777 (June 26, 2009 at 4:18 PM)

Romney, Palin, H. Clinton, etc. Right now I would take almost anyone who is to the right of the Socialist and his Socialistic Dance crew.

Call your Congresspersons to stop Obama's Cap and Tax bill that will further damage the economy. The vote is going down to the wire. We need those Blue dog democrats to come through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHL404zhcU

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Posted By: I'm all in (June 26, 2009 at 10:20 AM)

Romney has 57% of the Republicans? Is that good? Fox news has a poll on their website right now that shows Obama at 60% of all Americans.

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