Politico‘s big scoop today is that Sarah Palin has decided to try to charm the “lamestream media.” Perhaps that’s because she can read the polls. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey shows that her negatives are…growing. After her TLC reality show, after Bristol’s appearance on DWTS, after releasing yet another book, after all her tweets and Facebook notes attacking all sorts of foes, the former-half-term Alaskan governor is slipping in the polls. From MSNBC.com’s First Read:
In potential 2012 match-ups, [Obama] bests Romney by seven points (47%-40%), Palin by 22 points (55%-33%), and a relatively generic candidate like John Thune by 20 points (47%-27%). Of course, Thune and Romney both hold him under 50%….The other chief headline in the NBC/WSJ poll is Sarah Palin’s starting position for 2012, if she decides to run. In addition to Obama leading her by a whopping 22 points — compared with Romney’s seven-point deficit, and a generic GOP candidate’s three-point deficit in the poll — Palin’s negative rating has climbed to 50%. That’s the highest negative rating for anyone measured in this poll (and it’s two points lower than Nancy Pelosi’s negative rating from last month). And get this: The only major subgroups that Palin wins in a head-to-head match-up with Obama are Republicans, conservatives, and FOX viewers. That’s it, folks. NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) says that this is “a sobering starting point” for Palin if she decides to run for president.
Sober? It might be cause for a drink. No wonder Palin is making nice with the political media—such as Time magazine, ABC News, and, yes, even The New York Times. It seems her in-your-face-on-cable-Twitter-Facebook-and-every-other-imaginable-platform is not quite working. So Palin is now using the mainstreamers to rehab her image. It’s possible, though, the problem has not been Palin’s media strategy, but the product itself.
