Right Pulse

…was one of Paul Keating’s more infamous sayings. It is in this context that I report the following:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 10-14 among 1,502 adults reached on landlines and cell phones, finds that impressions of Sarah Palin have not changed much since the presidential campaign. Palin continues to be a divisive figure among the general public, with about as many saying they have an unfavorable impression (44%) as a favorable view (45%) of the Alaska governor.

Sarah Palin has never struck me as someone that has intellectually prepared herself for US national leadership. Beyond the glib one liners, I don’t think there is much there. Winning elections is not just about winning votes, but winning arguments as well. By contrast:

…Mitt Romney has seen his favorability ratings improve and now enjoys a positive balance of opinion among the general public: 40% rate him favorably, 28% unfavorably.

For ALP voters that’s 32 per cent that don’t know. In political terms that means potential. It is much easier to get the undecided than the decided against to vote for you. For example, at the beginning of the GM crisis MR wrote an article in the NYT in which he argued that GM should move immediately into a managed bankruptcy. An inexperienced Obama and his cronies ignored the call, but $90 billion in US tax-payers money later GM went into bankruptcy. Obama merely delayed the inevitable and wasted tax-payers money in the process while exposing tax-payers to significant risk through taking ownership of the company. After four years of economic downturn under Obama, it will be MR’s type of economic leadership that voters will be looking for.