Transparent Cynicism Fails
Currently, 49% of voters express an unfavorable opinion of Palin, while 44% have a favorable view. In mid-September, favorable opinions of Palin outnumbered negative ones by 54% to 32%. Women, especially women under age 50, have become increasingly critical of Palin: 60% now express an unfavorable view of Palin, up from 36% in mid-September [bold mine-DL]. ~Pew
The very high unfavorables among women do not surprise me that much. From the beginning women have tended to be less favorably inclined to Palin than men, and Palin has done more than enough in the last two months to intensify that negative reaction. Meanwhile, the overall Obama lead of 14 (among likely voters, mind you) is approximately at least twice of what the normal lead in the Pew poll has been all year and represents an increase of seven points among LVs since last week.
A quick question by your favor, O All-explicating One:
When Pew includes “1-week Obama change” columns (e.g, on the General Election Matchup table), wouldn’t it make more sense to show the net Obama change rather than the gross Obama change, i.e. ([O(thisweek) - M(thisweek)] – [O(lastweek) - M(lastweek)])/2?
When I do that, the motion toward Obama is greater in most rows.
Any professional woman is likely to have run into a Palin at some point in her career–someone who is pretty, perky, and deferential to men, but basically incompetent. In short, someone who skates by on her personality and feminine wiles as opposed to hard work and discernible talent. So, it comes as no surprise that she’s tanked among a large contingent of Hilary voters.
I think this represents over-excitement by men of her good looks. It was a transparent ploy to begin with, and many intelligent women knew that from the get-go. Some were more forgiving and gave her a shot, but she put her feet well down her throat and showed her unreadiness. Men are stalwarts because they are charmed by her. Example: Rich “Little Starbursts” Lowry.
Indya, that’s right, and it makes the claims that her “record” is what they admire that much more irritating, because it is increasingly clear that many men are not interested in her for her “record” and can’t be bothered to think about it. I think men, or at least conservative men, also feel more of an impulse to defend Palin because they ultimately don’t think she should be treated like other politicians and should be given more leeway because she’s a woman. My guess is that so many women view Palin unfavorably partly because they assume that she has badly damaged the prospects of women in high office in the future. Can you imagine how long it will be before another presidential nominee selects a female running mate? Maybe it will happen in the 2030s. For the same reason I think her male admirers are indifferent to her lack of preparation. It seems to me that for some of them this is an elaborate put-on designed to make a mockery of feminism in all forms. Others are simply overwhelmed by, er, enthusiasm.
The conservative men that I argue with love to tout her “executive experience” even though it is hardly conservative or qualified. They think I’m being catty. I respect the fact that she’s a beautiful woman, but I am not chopped liver, I am not jealous. If she were all that she was cracked up to be, I’d respect her a heck of a lot more. I think it’s more of the fact that she represents a unique stance for women, especially being pro-gun.
It’s like she’s a much prettier Linda Hamilton from Terminator 2: strong as heck, takes no crap, and on the side of people. They love the image, and her identity – the small town, pro-gun, seemingly honest “reformer” resonates deeply with them because of the package it is in. They gloss over things like her penchant for vengeance and abuses of power, and wholly buy the “evil librul media” thing to preserve her standing.
And what’s more ironic is that they want to call Obama supporters cultists. Right.
Well, there is a difference betwee groupies and cultists. The cultists retain some self-respect.
Ouch. True!