Over 70% think Sarah Palin is 'not qualified to serve as President' (they're right)

Fresh off her widely covered book tour and overblown media coverage of her keynote speech at the teabagger convetion, Sarah Palin is riding high. Yes, she's a big hit with a bloc of hard-core right-wingers, but, in the real world, most Americans don't buy it. In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, she has astoundingly bad numbers. Over 70% of Americans don't think she's qualified to be President:

There is a growing sense that the former Alaska governor is not qualified to serve as president, with more than seven in 10 Americans now saying she is unqualified, up from 60 percent in a November survey. Even among Republicans, a majority now say Palin lacks the qualifications necessary for the White House.

Palin has lost ground among conservative Republicans, who would be crucial to her hopes if she seeks the party's presidential nomination in 2012. Forty-five percent of conservatives now consider her as qualified for the presidency, down sharply from 66 percent who said so last fall.

Among all Republicans polled, 37 percent now hold a "strongly favorable" opinion of Palin, about half the level recorded when she burst onto the national stage in 2008 as Sen. John McCain's running mate.

Among Democrats and independents, assessments of Palin also have eroded. Six percent of Democrats now consider her qualified for the presidency, a drop from 22 percent in November; the percentage of independents who think she is qualified fell to 29 percent from 37 percent.

That whole quit your job to cash in thing might have made her rich, but it's not going to get her into the Oval Office.

But, if there's one thing we know about Palin, she loves the spotlight. And, she did intimate this weekend on her employer's network that she's thinking about running for President. Bad numbers like this won't deter Palin. Today, she got some encouraging news. Gallup reports that Romney and Palin are the top candidates for 2012 among GOP voters. (Okay, he's at 14% and she's at 11%, but still, they're at the top.)

I really want her to run in the GOP primary. Can you imagine the very serious Newt and Mitt trying to have a real debate with her? That will be fun to watch. She'll run circles around them.