Some perspective on that Rasmussen poll

Polls are fun and sometimes enlightening.  And sometimes they appear to be more than they are.

A couple days ago, I wrote a post on the new Rasmussen poll of Republican voters and their choices for the 2012 GOP presidential nominee.  Here's one of the questions Rasmussen posed to those Republican voters:

1* I know it’s a long way off, but suppose the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary were held in your state today. If you had a choice between Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour and Tim Pawlenty, for whom would you vote?

25% Romney
24% Palin
22% Huckabee
14% Gingrich
1% Barbour
1% Pawlenty
6% Some other candidate
6% Not sure

Sarah Palin supporters were quick to jump on the poll results as confirmation the governor was still a big player in GOP politics and stunts like bailing from her responsibilities as governor were no big deal to the "true believers".  But before those Palinphiles break out the champagne, they ought to think back to their elementary school math class when they learned (or, perhaps, didn't learn) about decimals.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll in April showed about 21% of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans.  The Rasmussen poll surveyed Republicans only and found 24% of them claiming they would vote for Sarah Palin in 2012. 

OK, getting the calculator here....0.21 x 0.24 = 0.05.   If your math is a little rusty, that 5% of Americans who would vote for Sarah Palin in 2012.

To be fair, Ms. Palin would undoubtedly get some Independent voters and perhaps even some Democratic votes as well.  But to suggest that Sarah Palin, at least at this point, is a big time formidable force in the 2012 presidential race is nonsense.