Rasmussen Reports has poll up about the potential 2012 nominees for the Republican Party up. Politico notes:
“In general, the higher a Republican voter’s income level and educational achievement, the more likely he or she is to think Palin’s decision to resign will hurt her bid for the GOP nomination,” the polling firm observed in its analysis of the survey.
This is probably more a reflection of attitudes toward Sarah Palin than genuine political insight, which, I am skeptical that even the “professionals” have 3 years out from the campaign. If someone has access to the crosstabs feel free to add something in the comments.
Update: Ed Morrisey covers the crosstabs:
The crosstabs show this basic breakdown across almost all demographics. Younger voters under 29 years of age gave a plurality to her resignation improving her chances, while the next age demographic — thirtysomethings — were the least forgiving of the age categories, with 48% saying it hurt. Black GOP voters disapproved by a solid majority, 58%, to just 10% saying it boosted Palin. Moderate Republicans also had a majority disapproving, but interestingly, the plurality among professed conservative GOP voters also said it hurt (38%, to 24% helps).
For social categories, the polling was even more interesting. Women were slightly less forgiving than men and solidly less likely to think the resignation helped. GOP voters with children at home were also less likely to support Palin’s position: 41%-24% hurts to helps, versus 39%-25% for voters with no children. The numbers between married and unmarried voters are almost identical. Religious affiliations showed an interesting split: A slight plurality of evangelicals believe it helps (33%-29%), while Protestants (41%-24%), Catholics (46%-20%), and “other” (48%-13%) have much stronger disapproving pluralities. However, only among those “not sure” of their religious attendance did Palin win a plurality approval (29%-10%).
Again, I suspect these results are less about political judgement than rank orders of preference for Sarah Palin among G.O.P. demographic segments.