Sarah Palin More Popular Than Barack Obama!

Bloggers are among the most partisan people around, but sometimes amid all the ideological rancor, one has to recognize the achievements of the other side. I wished Barack Obama congratulations after he secured his party's nomination, for example.

In the case of Sarah Palin, the GOP vice-presidential nominee, the left's recognition of her assets is grudging, if at all. There's been speculation all week, amid all the controversies, that Palin's nomination would be a drag on the ticket, and that the hyped-up allegations of scandal would sink the GOP. Even Republican Peggy Noonan confided, "It's over."

Kyle Moore, at Comments From Left Field, in his comments on Palin's potential impact, denigrated the Alaska Governor's acceptance speech:

Republicans loved it, but this was not the kind of speech that seemed designed towards attracting swing voters and fence-sitting Democrats. This was Palin’s opportunity to introduce herself to America as a whole, and what America as a whole viewed was a woman who was very light on policy, who didn’t go very far towards telling us who she was, or what she will do for the country, but was very heavy handed in attacking the opposition.

I know that negativity works a lot of the time, but not all of the time, and of the millions of viewers that Palin pulled last night, I will be very interested to see how many were turned off by what was a largely vitriolic speech.

There's more at the link (if you can get through Moore's clunky prose).

Moore goes on to recite undocumented "anectodal evidence" suggesting that Palin left "independents and swing voters" unimpressed.

Well, it turns out that Palin's leaving quite an impression on the American public after all. According to Rasmussen's new survey, Citizen Sarah's more popular the Barack Obama, aka "The One":

A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom.

The figures include 40% with a Very Favorable opinion of Palin and 18% with a Very Unfavorable view (full demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members). Before her acceptance speech, Palin was viewed favorably by 52%. A week ago, 67% had never heard of her.

The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.

Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.

Rasmussen also reports:

Fifty-one percent (51%) of all voters now believe that McCain made the right choice when he picked Palin to be his running mate while 32% disagree. By way of comparison, on the night after Biden gave his acceptance speech, 47% said that Obama made the right choice.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans say that McCain made the right choice while just 69% of Democrats said the same about Obama.

Among unaffiliated voters, 52% said that McCain made the right choice for his running mate and 45% said the same about Obama.

Rasmussen's daily tracking poll also finds the presidential horse race in a statistical tie, with Obama leading McCain 46 to 45 percent.

We won't know the full effect of Palin's impact on the race, or that of John McCain's acceptance speech, until early next week.

In the meantime, the early left-wing dismissals of McCain's judgment are badly off the mark.