Ross Douthat, on Hardball today, reported of Sarah Palin that “a third of the country loves her.”
Not quite. Actually, not at all.
Even before Friday’s happenings, Palin was not “loved” by one-third of the country. Assuming that “love” is more than just having a favorable impression of a politician, it would appear that polling showing that one has a “very favorable” impression of Palin is about the closest, polling-wise, that we can get.
That number, per Pew, is 15 percent (pdf).
At best, per Pollster.com’s Mark Blumenthal, looking at the same Pew data, slightly less than one-third of Republicans loved her. He wrote:
Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Republicans, 31% of white evangelical Republicans and 32% of conservative Republicans report “very favorable” impression of Palin (thanks to the Pew Research Center for sharing those additional results).
Finding the slightly less than one-third of Republicans who have a “very favorable” impression of Palin is about the only way one finds that “a third” of any group “loves” Palin.
And, again, that was before her numbers, I’d think, took at least somewhat of a hit from Friday’s happenings.
Regardless, Douthat is wrong to claim that “a third of the country loves” Sarah Palin.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Chris Geidner is the senior political writer at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found
I get all fuzzy when I see GOP math like that. Gives me hope of our childrens’ future… working in fast food.
Even assuming that 99% of the country “loooves” Palin, that doesn’t mean much in my book. I love a grilled cheese sandwich but that doesn’t mean I want to eat one everyday for 8 years.
When 1.5 million people sign up to get tickets to her funeral, then we’ll talk.
A lighter note, but tv.com aaked the question “Now that Palin has resigned, which tv cast should she joined.” (And this is, if anything, a fairly conservative group, as I’ve discovered from responses to my reviews.)
The current totals (Show – percent)
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES – 30
24 – 17
LOST – 14
SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER – 14
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE – 10
(for those who predict a Fox giug, Hannity came in last with 4%)
Don’t smell much like love to me, nohow.
On the other hand, I think Douthat’s NYT column on Palin captured something, and I’m glad that Coates is walking back his claim that there was anything racist in it. As I think most immigrants and children of immigrants do, I identify very strongly with the meritocratic ideal and thus with Barack Obama’s life story (Mom waking you up at 5am to study? Grandpa more excited about your getting into a prestigious school than about your athletic skills? Welcome to my life).
But there are many Americans who don’t identify with that, and Sarah Palin is their icon of the Jacksonian democratic ideal, educated more by experience than by professors. Those people understandably are angry with a media dominated by meritocrats or straight-up inherited elites who do not seem to see any value in the lives and achievements of people who didn’t go to Ivy League schools. I think this also feeds into the distrust of the judiciary, which is extremely meritocracy-oriented and hierarchical — remember Scalia’s snobbishness about hiring a clerk from Moritz? The Palin fans know that you can be really good at a job without having a particular resume, and they resent the mockery of Palin’s college-hopping.
What I find amusing is that we’re hearing this from Ross Douthat and Bill Kristol, both Harvard alumni.
Thank you Manos. You made me laugh out loud.
The exulted Alums connect struck me as odd and funny too PG. (Though I do wonder why Ross hasn’t bothered to fix his teeth yet (Ross, Lauren Hutton you’re not), but perhaps I’m being brace-letist? orthodon-letist? toothist?)
I think this goes beyond Jacksonian though, Palin’s ratcheted it up a few notches to become Queen of the Persecuted. She appeals to those who have presecution complexs or those who aspire to — witness the “tea parties”, and she astonishing outburst to Andrea Mitchell (”You’re not listening to me!”). It’s an attractive filter for people who feel life isn’t working out for them and/or who fear social change, or simply want themselves reflected in the media. How often do you hear people say “I’m just so sick of hearing about gay (fill in the blank).”?
It’s less the rise of the common man than the rise of the whiner. Which of course only means that Obama and the Dems need to make even more effort to specifically address those concerns in those areas: WV, KY, MO, parts of OH and IN and MI, parts of the south and the plains, and of course Alaska (post-Palin).
Obama needs a TVA kind of jobs initiative — public works in the highlands, special industry incentives there, etc.