: : : : : : : : : :

The voters are waking up to the reality that is Sarah Palin. Latest polls show that her shine has worn off. With the Vice-Presidential debates set for tonight, America gets to see her once more in action. There will be no teleprompter to help her through the rough patches.

As the Washington Post has noted “Palin may now be a drag on the Republican ticket among key voter groups.”

“Six in 10 voters see her as lacking the experience to be an effective president, and a third are now less likely to vote for (Republican presidential hopeful John) McCain because of her,” the daily said. While voters rated Palin as highly as they did McCain or his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, in the immediate aftermath of her entry into the race, her support has slid dramatically, the survey said. “The 60 per cent who now see Palin as insufficiently experienced to step into the presidency is steeply higher than in a Post-ABC poll after her nomination early last month. Democrats and Republicans alike are now more apt to doubt her qualifications, but the biggest shift has come among independents,” the survey added.

Her approval rating in Alaska has dropped significantly in the last three weeks. Palin enjoyed an unprecedented 82 percent which has now plummeted to 68 percent.

What has changed is the bipartisan support she’s enjoyed since taking office. According to Moore’s numbers, Palin lost 25 percent of her Democratic support in Alaska. Similarly, support by independents – who make up the biggest bloc of Alaska voters – dropped 18 percent. One of those voters who changed his mind is Jed Whittaker, a construction worker from Anchorage. He said he supported Palin until reporters arriving in Alaska started uncovering things about her. “We do know a lot more about Mrs. Palin now than we did three weeks ago,” Whittaker said. Among those revelations, he cited Palin’s religious views and that she once said it was God’s will to build a multibillion-dollar pipeline to deliver natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 states.

More so than ever before in the past-we are seeing two-thirds of the voters planning to watch the VP debate-that is a significant difference from the 2004 debate. Of course, the voters believe that Biden will win by a landslide. He is an accomplished debater, in my opinion, plus his expensive knowledge on foreign and domestic affairs will be the highlight tonight.