The Barracuda Is Now An Albatross

Two new polls released yesterday, one by Pew and one by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, show that John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate has turned into an unmitigated disaster. Her negatives are rising at an alarming rate and, if you can believe this, the list of voter’s biggest concerns about McCain’s candidacy now has Sarah Palin at No. 1, and continuing George Bush’s policies at No. 2. She is also losing the support of women that she was allegedly put on the ticket to attract, and is turning off independent voters at an ever-increasing rate. And if that wasn’t enough, Gov. Palin has made McCain’s age an issue that it wasn’t in previous polls. In baseball terminology that is known as the golden sombrero, Sen. McCain, 0 for 4. Here’s how the numbers break down. From Pew: * 49% now have an unfavorable view of Gov. Palin, up from 32% in mid-September. * 60% of women under 50 now have an unfavorable view, up from 36% in mid-September. * 53% of all women have a negative view of Gov. Palin, up from 38% in mid -September. * 56% of independent women have an unfavorable view of Palin, up from 28% in mid-September. * 27% of all independents have a very unfavorable opinion of Palin, up from 10% in mid-September. * Gov. Palin has maintained her support among the Republican base, you know, the "real Americans" with the same 83% approval she had in previous polls. * 34% now say McCain’s age is an issue, up from 23% in mid-September.   From NBC News/Wall Street Journal: * 55% say Palin is not qualified to serve as president if the need arises. Just as an aside to all the "guilt by association" zealots out there, on the list of the top 4 concerns about Obama, his relationship with people like Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright ranks dead last. See, I told you so. Apparently Governor Palin’s vast knowledge of foreign policy by virtue of being able to see Russia from her front porch, and her rather unique interpretation of the Constitutional powers of the vice-presidency is not impressing the voting public. Who could have seen that coming?