Sarah Palin is starting to slip into George Bush territory when it comes to polling. Her numbers are atrocious. The Washington Post/ABC News poll has very bad news for John McCain. Because while McCain thinks Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, most Americans don't:
In the new Post-ABC poll, Palin matches the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., on empathy, one of McCain's clear deficits against Obama, while fewer than half of voters think she understands "complex issues."McCain gambled big time on his v.p. pick. It's not really paying off.
But it is the experience question that may prove her highest hurdle, particularly when paired with widespread public concern about McCain's age. About half of all voters said they were uncomfortable with the idea of McCain taking office at age 72, and 85 percent of those voters said Palin does not have the requisite experience to be president.
The 60 percent who now see Palin as insufficiently experienced to step into the presidency is steeply higher than in a Post-ABC poll after her nomination early last month. Democrats and Republicans alike are now more apt to doubt her qualifications, but the biggest shift has come among independents.
In early September, independents offered a divided verdict on Palin's experience; now they take the negative view by about 2 to 1. Nearly two-thirds of both independent men and women in the new poll said Palin has insufficient experience to run the White House.
Because the political reporters and pundits in the traditional media are so easily spun (Exhibit A), Palin will undoubtedly get a bounce from her debate performance tonight. If she can say her name and conjugate a few verbs, the pundits will be agog. But, whatever happens tonight, she's not qualified to be president.
