Poll: Just 26% think Sarah Palin would be an effective president

By David Edwards Professor says Huffington Post more fair to former Alaska governor than CNN or Time When asked about a Beck/Palin ticket, Glenn Beck said he wasn't electable and "there are far too many people that are far smarter than me to be president."

According to a new poll from Vanity Fair and CBS News' 60 Minutes, the former Alaska governor might not be electable either.

The poll asks, "Do you think SARAH PALIN would have the ability to be an EFFECTIVE PRESIDENT?"

59 percent of respondents agree that the former Alaska governor would not be effective while 26 percent think she would.

A press release sent to RAW STORY announced:

Sarah Palin would not be an effective president say 6 in 10 Americans. Seventy-five percent of Democrats, 40 percent of Republicans, and 63 percent of independents all agreed that Sarah Palin would not be an effective president. Twenty-six percent overall did think she could navigate the Oval Office, including 47 percent of Republicans, 12 percent of Democrats, and 21 percent of independents.

Most notably, self-described conservatives were almost evenly split on the question. 40 percent said that Palin would not be effective while 41 percent said she would.

Palin has made a number of gaffes over the years which may inhibit her electability should she decide to run. During an interview with CBS' Katie Couric in 2008, Palin couldn't name a Supreme Court decision -- beyond Roe v. Wade -- she disagreed with and wouldn't name any newspaper or magazine that she read.

In an earlier interview, she suggested to ABC News' Charles Gibson that the US may need to go to war with Russia over their attack on Georgia. Palin was also widely ridiculed for saying that part of her national security experience was that parts of Russia could be seen from land in Alaska.

In a blog cross-posted at the conservative blog HotAir, Cornell associate law professor William Jacobson blasted news outlets like Time and CNN for reporting that the poll was about Palin's qualifications for office.

CNN reported:

Two days after Sarah Palin fired up a large crowd at Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally in Washington, a newly released survey suggests a clear majority of Americans don't think the former vice presidential nominee has the right credentials to be president.

According to the new survey from Vanity Fair and CBS News' 60 Minutes, only 1 in 4 of all adults thinks Palin is qualified to be commander-in-chief while 60 percent say she is not.

"This description of the poll is an outright fabrication. The actual poll question had nothing to do with credentials, qualifications, or even electability," wrote Jacobson.

The associate clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School also noted called out Time Magazine's description of the poll.

"Again, there is no truth to the characterization that the poll concerned qualifications or election prospects," he said.

But Jacobson praised Huffington Post because they put the poll in context:

While the 2012 election is a long way off and poll numbers are difficult to interpret, in one recent poll of potential 2012 matchups, conducted Aug. 6-9 by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, 43% of registered voters said they would support Palin to 49% for Obama.

"HuffPo more fair than CNN and Time Magazine. It has come to this," lamented Jacobson.