On the ground in New Hampshire: No place for a Palin candidacy -- UPDATE: No place for Palin nationally, according to new Fox News poll

Marc Fortier of New Hamphire's MerrimackPatch writes:

... [A]s she [Sarah Palin] prepares to return to the Granite State on Monday for a Tea Party Express rally in Manchester, it appears influential Republicans are overwhelmingly underwhelmed by the prospects of a Palin candidacy.

According to a survey of GOP leaders in New Hampshire and two other early-voting states, 81 percent of the 151 people responding said Palin should not run. Only 15 percent said she should run, with 3 percent undecided.

"Sarah is a very polarizing gal," said one Republican polled. "Her getting in wouldn't be helpful."

"Her time has come and gone," said another. "She's a reality show star now, and that limits her credibility in the political arena."

The Patch-Huffington Post Power Outsiders poll of Republican voters in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina comes on the heels of a survey last week that found two thirds of those queried were satisfied with the current crop of GOP candidates. ...

A "very polarizing gal" and "her time has come and gone" summarize Palin's situation very well, thank you. The negatives of being a reality show show star were expressed by none other than Sarah's nemesis, Karl Rove:

"With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office’,” Mr Rove told The Daily Telegraph in an interview.

He added that the promotional clip for Sarah Palin’s Alaska could be especially detrimental to any political campaign. It features the mother of five in the great outdoors saying: “I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office."

Sarah Palin would rather be a celebrity than hold office, because she has no interest in governing. If we had a parliamentary form of government, where the roles of head-of-state and head-of-government are separate, like Britain where the queen is head-of-state and the prime minister head-of-government, Palin might try-out for head-of-state, a ceremonial office with no responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the government and no political power. But rather than a buffoon, a head-of-state is usually someone respected and admired by a broad swath of the people, so Palin would likely be laughed off the stage.

Update: (From Fox News, about their national poll):

... [M]ost American voters -- including a majority of Republicans -- think former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin should stay out of the presidential race. ...

... All in all, most voters -- 74 percent -- think Palin should stay on the sidelines in 2012. Just 20 percent think she should run for president.

The groups most likely to support Palin running are white evangelical Christians (30 percent) and Tea Party members (28 percent). Still, majorities of those groups do not think she should run (62 percent and 66 percent respectively). In addition, 72 percent of conservatives, 71 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of independents think Palin should stay out.

Women (77 percent) are a bit more likely than men (71 percent) to say Palin should sit this one out.

Just among women, Republicans (26 percent) are more likely than independents (24 percent) and Democrats (15 percent) to think Palin should run. ...

... The poll asked voters to name any Republican contenders they felt were “too extreme to be seriously considered.” Among all voters, Bachmann tops the list at 18 percent, followed by Perry at 14 percent, Palin at 12 percent and Paul at 10 percent. Four percent think Romney is too extreme. Responses were volunteered by respondents; a list was not read. About a third of voters (35 percent) said none were too extreme and 22 percent were unsure. ...

Given these numbers, one must begin to consider whether organizations like conservatives4palin are nothing more than noisy astroturf operations.