1 of 3 | Former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin in Washington, Aug. 28, 2010. UPI/Alexis C. Glenn |
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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- California Republicans overwhelmingly approve of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin yet her endorsement would more likely hurt candidates than help, a poll found.
The Field Poll, issued Wednesday, found 74 percent of the state's Republicans have a favorable opinion of Palin while 19 percent have an unfavorable view of her. California Democrats disapprove of Palin 79 percent to 9 percent and independents disapproved 69 percent to 25 percent, the poll found.
Among all voters, Palin has a 53 percent unfavorable and 33 percent favorable rating.
The poll was released as Palin -- who has been a major figure during the 2010 campaign season, endorsing Tea Party movement candidates over establishment Republicans in several GOP primaries -- prepares to travel to California next week to campaign and raise money for Republican candidates.
The poll found more than half of California voters said a Palin endorsement would make them less inclined to vote for a candidate, while 21 percent said they would be more inclined to vote for a Palin-backed candidate. Among Republicans, 51 percent said they would be more inclined to vote for a candidate endorsed by Palin.
Palin is to appear in Anaheim Oct. 16 but it appears the two top Republican candidates in California -- U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina and gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman -- will not attend the event, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
A spokesman for Whitman said she had "another campaign event scheduled" and a Fiorina spokeswoman said she also had other appearances scheduled.
"Look, Sarah Palin is here for important reasons of her own, and meanwhile I have 27 days left to talk to the people of California about the issues that matter in this race and so that's what I'm going to go do," Fiorina told reporters Wednesday.
The Field Poll findings were based on a telephone survey of a random sample of 414 registered voters in California, conducted Sept. 14-21. The margin of error was 4.9 percentage points.
