Sarah Palin's plummet in the polls: 4 theories

Sarah Palin may not be happy with lamestream-media pollsters today: A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday finds that the percentage of Republicans who have a favorable opinion of the former governor has plummeted to a record low. Just 58 percent of Republicans see Palin in a favorable light, down from a "stratospheric" 88 percent just after the 2008 Republican National Convention, and 70 percent last October. Meanwhile, the percentage of Republican voters who view her unfavorably has reached a new high. Why has Palin's appeal plummeted within her own party?

1. Republicans don't want her to run

Her "shadow campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential campaign has been almost completely mismanaged," says John Ellis at Business Insider. She's been mired in "politically useless controversies," like her Gabrielle Giffords "blood libel" moment, offered "incoherent" comments on the revolts in the Middle East, and failed to address her biggest issue: "She lacks the experience and knowledge necessary to serve as president."

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2. She's too polarizing

"It has long been clear that Palin is a polarizing figure amid the overall electorate," say Chris Cillizza and Jon Cohen in The Washington Post, but this poll suggests she may be just as polarizing for some of the voters she would need the most to win the nomination, should she seek it.

3. Palin has issues with Republican powerbrokers

The former Alaska governor's problem is "her obvious disdain for Republican elites," says Jamelle Bouie in The American Prospect. They were willing to put up with her last year, but with the elections looming, the conservative Powers That Be have been "gradually distancing themselves from Palin." Now it seem that their dislike for her "has trickled down to the grassroots."

4. Republicans actually never liked her that much

"The conservative Republican honeymoon with Sarah Palin, now widely reported to be over, never really existed,"says Shaun Muller at The Moderate Voice. It was "a mere fig newton of the imagination of neocons with stiffies like William Kristol who believed that the former half-term governor 'would change politics as we know it.'" Many mainstream Republicans were less than thrilled with John McCain's choice in a running mate, but they put on a happy face.