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Sarah Palin, You're No Dan Quayle

Rasmussen has a poll out on Sarah Palin. Only 29 percent of voters think she is ready to be president. An August 1988 poll by Gallup for the People, the Press, and Politics organization showed that 40 percent of Americans thought that Dan Quayle was qualified to be President.

Posted by Phil Klinkner on August 30, 2008 02:51 PM |

Comments

Wow! 29 percent is very low, especially considering that Joe Biden polled an astronomical 39 percent for the same question last week (according to the article).

Posted by: L J | August 31, 2008 12:53 AM

But Quayle had a few extra weeks in front of the camera. He was announced in Mid-August.

Quayle was also a congressman for 12 years before his VP nomination. Although maybe the public’s decade or more exposure to Quayle makes Palin’s numbers all the more abysmal.

Posted by: Willie | August 31, 2008 02:02 PM

Palin’s not running for president. Is Nancy Pelosi (#3 in line) ready to be president? No? Well, fortunately, she’s not trying to get elected, either.

And, presumably, d-d-duhBama has some higher percentage of people who believe that he is ready to be president.

This game of nuance is fun! I’m glad you introduced me to it.

Posted by: skh.pcola | August 31, 2008 10:58 PM

I think the 11% gap would be the sexism gap. While neither Quayle nor Palin have much experience nor were they known, the woman factor makes it worse for her.

I also like how no one is mentioning that Mitt Romney, who was the presumptive veep frontrunner, has only 2 more years of experience in elected office than Palin.

Double standard?

Posted by: Chris | September 1, 2008 10:11 PM

MSNBC actually ran an article by Mark Blumenthal of the National Journal that compares the Rasmussen poll with a Gallup poll. In short, the results are quite different but likely attributed to differences in the instruments.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26495571/

I think Andrew’s comment [posted a couple of enteries up] is spot on.

Posted by: Eric | September 2, 2008 01:54 AM

New polling data!

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/palin_power_fresh_face_now_more_popular_than_obama_mccain

Sarah Palin went from 29 percent to 40 percent (the Quayle threshold) in a week.

The new poll also notes that, compared to Obama, 44 percent think Palin has the better experience to be president. I wonder what the Quayle threshold for that item is?

Posted by: L.J | September 6, 2008 03:03 AM