Palin the better VP than Biden ?

When Sarah Palin was named the running mate for John McCain, nearly every major news outlet was up in arms over the pick. They called her a risk, they said that she was too inexperienced, they said that it could be the worst pick for a vice presidential candidate, EVER!

They could still be right.

However, a new poll suggests that the American public may think that Palin was a better pick than Senator Joe Biden. In a poll done by Rasmussen Reports online finds that voters are in favor of her pick for VP about 53% of the time compared to Biden, who's approval for being picked was just about 43%.

Biden's approval rating climbed to just about 49% after the convention and Palin's approval rating at the time of the poll was expected to see a significant jump as well. However, with hurricane Gustav approaching Louisiana and the Republican Convention scrambling to shift it's guests and speakers around, the percentage bump that Palin would have received remains unclear.

I believe that the approval ratings are however skewed for one reason, Hilary Clinton. I would imagine that the number of disenfranchised Democrats that were upset with the fact that she was not chosen for the VP to Obama probably caused a lot of voters that were polled to conclude that they were not satisfied with the choice of Biden. This was not because they did not think Biden was a good choice for VP, but rather because they preferred Clinton to be on the ticket. Palin's numbers were probably helped because of Clinton as well. Palin made the statement "It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America, but it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."Appealing to women voters that felt strongly for Clinton, I feel also helped her numbers.

Other numbers that I found that were when compared to the favorability to the two candidates were the numbers regarding if they were ready to be president. 49% felt that Biden was ready to be president compared to 29% of people who felt Palin was ready to be president. I hate to think the favorability and the person who is ready to be president polls would be so far apart, as it looks like a popularity contest.

Favorite quote from the article : "Joe Biden has been in the Senate since Palin was nine years old."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/palin_makes_good_first_impression_is_viewed_more_favorably_than_biden