President 2012,  Sarah Palin

Updated with Polls: President 2012: Sarah Palin is UNLIKELY to Run for President?

March 23, 2011 /

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is escorted by Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz (L) and Israeli lawmaker Danny Danon (R) as she leaves the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem’s Old City March 20, 2011. Palin began a private visit to Israel on Sunday, her first to the Jewish state, and planned to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tour holy sites

Yes, UNLIKLEY, according to Weekly Standard Bill Kristol

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol was among Sarah Palin’s earliest Washington admirers, and helped bring her to the national stage, but he said this week that while he still admires her, he questions her choices and doesn’t think she should be the Republican nominee for president. (…)

But Kristol — one of her key boosters — went on to raise many of the same questions that have undercut her prospects inside the Republican Party.

“When she quit as governor of Alaska, that was a questionable move from her point of view, but I thought at least then that she would come to the mainland and really participate in the national debate,” he said. “Instead, [it] turns out that she loves Alaska, which is to her credit  — but then I don’t know why she quit as governor.”

“She has a very shrewd judgment about politics and policy and very good instincts — but she hasn’t done what Reagan … did, which is really educate himself over a number of years,” Kristol said.

“i think she’s unlikely to be the Republican nominee, and to be honest I think she probably shouldn’t be the Republican nominee for president,” he said, adding that he thinks she’s “unlikely” to run.

Sarah has not been polling very well and it is the general consensus that Obama would wipe her out in just about every state. As I have said, I like Sarah, but 2012 is not her year. She has plenty of time to grow, raise her family and prepare herself for a run in the future – if that is what she wants.

Update:

PPP polling provides some reasons why:

Above is Sarah Palin polling state by state.

  • A majority of voters in 26 of the 27 states have a negative opinion of Palin- the only exception is West Virginia where just 47% rate her unfavorably to 41% with a position opinion.
  • Palin’s favorability spread is -20 or worse in 19 of the 27 states we’ve polled.
  • There are only three states where Palin’s favorability spread is better than -10: in addition to West Virginia they are Nebraska and Montana.
  • There are eight states where her spread is -30 or worse: in addition to typically blue states like New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island that includes swing states like Colorado, New Mexico, and Virginia.

Sarah Palin could very well win the GOP nomination, but why bother?