Has the United States reached peak Palin? In other words, are US voters now showing a declining interest in former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, meaning her political fortunes are sliding downwards?
That’s the implication of a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll, which finds that 54% of Americans now say they’ve heard enough from Palin. They’d prefer she speak up less, according to survey findings. This finding fits with what some left-leaning pundits are saying about Palin’s recent call for President Obama’s impeachment, in which she compared the nation to a battered wife. The ex-Alaska governor feels her audience slipping away, goes this theory, and is resorting to increasingly inflammatory speech in an effort to rebuild her influence.
Palin “will do or say just about anything to get attention and feed bloody red met to what’s left of her following,” wrote Ed Kilgore Tuesday at The Washington Monthly’s “Political Animal” blog. Well, maybe. It’s true that she’s gone from a major party presidential ticket to a paid Fox News pundit to the star of a cable TV hunting show. That’s not exactly an upward career trend.
There is, however, a large segment of voters that still sees her in a very favorable light. As we noted when talking about her impeachment call Tuesday, many Americans feel the US is slipping away from strict constitutional governance. They approve of her rhetoric, whether it’s directed at President Obama or establishment Republicans she excoriates as feckless.
