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New poll finds Palin within striking distance of Obama in 2012
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin said Tuesday night that "there is still time" to enter the presidential race, and that she is "still one of those still considering the time factor."
As Palin remains coy about her future, a new poll shows her trailing President Obama by just 5 points — a marked improvement on numbers in the past.
A McClatchy-Marist poll found Palin trailing Obama 49 to 44 percent; in polls earlier this year, the governor had been trailing by more than 20 percent. The shift is primarily due to a huge swing in independents, who now favor Palin 47 percent to 43 percent. In August, independents backed Obama by a 56 percent to 35 percent margin. This is the first time the president has fallen below 50 percent in a hypothetical matchup.
Independents are evenly divided between Perry and Obama, showing a possible window for Palin.
Palin, who is a paid Fox News contributor, acknowledged to Fox News's Sean Hannity that she would likely need to make her decision next month to make sure that she was on the ballot and legally eligible in the coming Republican primaries.
“You do, I mean legally you do,” she said. “But I do think Sean, this is going to be such an unconventional election cycle. … Mark my word, it is going to be an unconventional type of election process.”
But will the race be unconventional enough that the GOP would embrace the former Alaska governor, who some establishment Republicans have criticized as prioritizing her celebrity over her political career?
The McClatchy poll again provides encouraging news for Palin: Some 81 percent say that they would vote for her, compared with 60 percent last month. Palin may be capitalizing on growing support among the Tea Party ranks, in which 87 percent of voters back Palin, versus 70 percent last month.
Still, the poll was also conducted before scandalous reports from author Joe McGinniss's new book Going Rogue emerged. And the race could prove a difficult one for Palin, says Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, who helped conduct the poll.
"On the one hand, President Obama’s re-election numbers are very low. On the other hand, no GOP potential opponent has stepped up to the plate and demonstrated sufficient electoral power to beat him,” Miringoff said in a news release.
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