Crash: Sarah Palin Is Now Less Popular Than George W. Bush

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Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:40 pm

According to a new poll released today by Bloomberg, Sarah Palin’s favorable rating continues to plummet, while her unfavorable rating skyrockets. Only 33% of Americans have a favorable view of Palin compared to 57% who hold an unfavorable view of her. The only other figure on the poll who was as unpopular as Palin was former president George W. Bush, and even Bush is more popular than Palin.

The Bloomberg poll measured the net favorable/unfavorable ratings for both political parties and leaders. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama topped the list at 65% and 52% favorability respectively. While President Obama had a (+8%) favorable/unfavorable net, Hillary Clinton was at a whopping (+36%) net rating. On the other end of the spectrum resided the two least popular politicians in America, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin.

It is interesting that both Bush and Palin have sought to rebuild their public image through books, and although they have sold a lot of books each of them remains extremely unpopular. Bush has a favorable rating of 39% and an unfavorable rating of 57%. His net rating of (-18%) is terrible, but it is better than Palin, whose favorable rating is 33%, and her unfavorable rating matches Bush’s 57%. Palin’s net (-24%) was the largest negative disparity of the entire list. George W. Bush, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, and even Fed Chairman Ben Bernacke are all more popular with Americans than Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin’s media strategy ahead of 2012 has not only been to posture as the heir apparent to the Republican presidential nomination, but also to transform the Palin clan into a shadow First Family. Everything from daughter Bristol’s gig on Dancing With The Stars to TLC’s Sarah Palin’s Alaska has been designed to sell the image of Sarah Palin All American mom, and The Palin family as future White House occupants in waiting.

Judging from the polls, Palin’s strategy has been a resounding failure. Sarah Palin’s disapproval ratings have actually risen since her latest book hit the shelves and her reality TV began airing. Last month Palin’s disapproval rating sat at 52%. This month her unfavorable rating has gone up by 5% to 57%. Since September, her unfavorable rating has increased by 9%.

The more America sees of Palin in any venue, the less qualified they believe she is to be president. Sarah Palin’s Alaska is nothing but a tightly edited, heavily scripted, image managed, flimsy attempt to reinforce Palin’s 2008 brand as a regular American whom we all can relate to. The problem is that it didn’t work in 2008, and it is not going to work in 2012 with the general electorate. However, Palin’s base audience is older white evangelical conservatives. This is almost the most influential bloc in the GOP primaries, and Sarah Palin’s Alaska is full of pleas to these voters. The reality show may make her a certain loser in a contest against Obama, but it could get her the 2012 GOP nomination.

Sarah and Todd Palin don’t understand this yet, but their flimsy attempts to fool the American people are driving her negatives up. Sarah Palin has consistently demonstrated a comprehensive ignorance of policy, and her attacks on Obama end up sounding more like sour grapes over 2008 than an alternative path for the nation. America has decided that they don’t like Sarah Palin. They don’t trust Sarah Palin, and they certainly don’t want Palin anywhere near the Oval Office. Two years of consistent polling results don’t lie, but it looks like Palin is going to make America prove their contempt for her at the polls in November 2012 and even then, I doubt that she will ever get it. Sarah, America’s just not that into you.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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