As Barack Obama prepares for the White House and Sarah Palin is being talked about in some quarters as the future of the Republican Party, several polls today suggest that Americans are optimistic about what Obama's first term will bring and far less enthusiastic about a Palin in their future.
A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Nov. 6-9 found that forty-nine percent of Americans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin compared to 43 percent who view her unfavorably. Just after the GOP convention, she had been viewed favorably by 57 percent of registered voters compared to about a quarter who viewed her unfavorably. Palin does better among men than with women, with her favorable to unfavorable ratio among men being 51 percent to 41 percent. Her favorability rating with women is 3 points lower.
"With fairly high negatives and lower support among women, who should be a natural constituency for Palin, she's not starting off from a position of strength," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
However, just as in the campaign, Palin remains a hit with the Republican base with 86 percent viewing her favorably.
A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Nov. 7-9 says that Americans, by 52 percent to 45 percent, have no desire to see Palin become a major national political figure. Republicans don't share that view with about three-quarters of them wanting her on the national stage. But independents say no by 53 percent to 43 percent and Democrats by 77 percent to 20 percent. Her favorability to unfavorability ratio is 48 percent to 47 percent.
As for Obama, A Quinnipiac University survey conducted Nov. 6-10 says Americans appear to have a high level of confidence in Barack Obama's ability to turn around the economy. Those polled say by 70 percent to 11 percent that the economy will get better in Obama's first term, and that includes 50 percent of Republicans. They also believe by 56 percent to 28 percent that Obama will restore trust in government and by 69 percent to 22 percent that his election will lead to improved race relations.
What they don't have as much faith in, as other polls have also indicated, is what Obama will do about taxes. Forty-five percent believe their taxes will go up compared to 15 percent who expect them to be cut, and 35 percent say they won't change. By 54 percent to 34 percent, voters do not believe Obama will make good on his promise to cut taxes for 95 percent of voters.
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