Who knew Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi had so much in common? As partisan politicians who shore up their respective party bases, the former Alaska governor and the U.S. House speaker are mirror images -- in reverse.
A new Sunshine State News Poll finds that both Palin and Pelosi are much beloved by Florida Republicans and Democrats, respectively. Palin has a 73/19 favorable/unfavorable rating among likely GOP voters. Pelosi is popular with Democrats, albeit less so at 57/28.
But both women are equally reviled by the opposite side, and neither is particularly attractive to independent voters.
Palin has a 38/47 favorable/unfavorable rating among independents while Pelosi is mired at 31/52.
Overall, Palin has a 43/49 favorable/unfavorable score with Florida voters while Pelosi notches an anemic 31/59 rating.
"Palin appears to shore up the (GOP) base," said Jim Lee, president of Voter Survey Service, which conducted the poll commissioned by Sunshine State News.
"Pelosi could be a liability for some Democrats," he observed, noting the speaker's high negatives and her relatively high 28 percent unfavorable rating among members of her own party.
University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith, agrees, saying most Florida Democrats "want to keep their distance from Pelosi."
Both women's weakness among independents would appear to marginalize their endorsements and weaken their clout in a general election campaign.
Palin's support in the Republican primary was seen as a net benefit. Her last-minute endorsement of Pam Bondi helped the former Hillsborough County prosecutor separate herself in a tight three-way race that had a high number of undecideds.
But the vote-getting power of Palin and Pelosi diminishes sharply when independent voters are thrown into the mix.
"There's a detriment to embracing either one of them because their negatives are so high," Smith said.
Though Palin's help has not been solicited by Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio or GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott, GOP hopefuls make hay by invoking Pelosi's name.
"If you're seen as a rubber-stamp for Pelosi, that will dampen support among independents. It becomes a wedge issue," Lee said.
Taking that cue, Republican congressional candidate Sandy Adams launched a website -- kosmasforpelosi.com -- that links her opponent, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, with Pelosi.
Adams has also publicized the fact that Pelosi held a fund-raiser for Kosmas, a first-term Democratic representative from Florida's 24th Congressional District. The event was conducted in Washington, D.C., and Kosmas has expressed no interest in bringing the speaker to campaign here.
Sensing the limits of her appeal, Pelosi, a San Franciscan, has largely confined her Florida trips to Democratic strongholds in the southeast part of the state.
She recently headlined a campaign brunch in Miami for Joe Garcia, who is running for an open seat in CD 25.
Palin, meantime, canceled a planned campaign event in Miami this month, citing scheduling conflicts. In more friendly territory, Palin endorsed Daniel Webster in Central Florida's 8th Congressional District, where the former Republican state senator is trying to unseat freshman Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando.
Palin Tweeted her support for Webster after Grayson aired his infamous "Taliban Dan" ad, accusing Webster of being a religious extremist on women's issues.
In one of the few head-to-head contests involving the two women, Pelosi is scheduled to attend an Oct. 11 fund-raiser for Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. Klein's challenger in CD 22, Allen West, has been endorsed by Palin.
Lee said that while Palin had only limited appeal to suburban and swing voters as John McCain's running mate in 2008, Pelosi gets little or no traction with non-Democratic voters. Indeed, each woman's prime political attribute seems to be at energizing their opposition.
As the liberal Huffington Post opined recently, "Palin is the Democrats' best friend." The same could be said of Pelosi vis-a-vis Republicans.
The Sunshine State News Poll, conducted by VSS Sept 28-Oct. 3, surveyed 1,003 likely Florida voters. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.09 percent.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
