DUDES? YUP, THEY STILL DIG PALIN
(but Americans don't dig Palin's foreign policy)

Barack Obama has a 5-point lead in the new CBS/New York Times poll, and Sarah Palin's approval rating continues to drop (somewhat):

Palin's favorable rating is 37 percent, a slight decline from last week, while her unfavorable rating is 29 percent.

(Her favorable rating last week was 40%, according to the PDF of the poll results.)

Women are split on the Alaska governor, with 34 percent viewing her favorably, 33 percent unfavorably, and the remainder undecided or not sure.

The male numbers aren't there, but if half of the poll respondents are male, I think, to get that overall number, she'd have to have a 40%-25% favorable-unfavorable rating from men.

So, yeah, women are just about evenly split, but dudes still dig her.

****

By the way, whether they realize it or not, the American people think Sarah Palin's foreign-policy proclamations are a crock.

Palin to Katie Couric:

Couric: When President Bush ran for office, he opposed nation-building. But he has spent, as you know, much of his presidency promoting democracy around the world. What lessons have you learned from Iraq? And how specifically will you try to spread democracy throughout the world?

Palin: Specifically, we will make every effort possible to help spread democracy for those who desire freedom, independence, tolerance, respect for equality. That is the whole goal here in fighting terrorism also. It's not just to keep the people safe, but to be able to usher in democratic values and ideals around this, around the world.

Couric: You met yesterday with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who is for direct diplomacy with both Iran and Syria. Do you believe the U.S. should negotiate with leaders like President Assad and Ahmadinejad?

Palin: I think, with Ahmadinejad, personally, he is not one to negotiate with. You can't just sit down with him with no preconditions being met. Barack Obama is so off-base in his proclamation that he would meet with some of these leaders around our world who would seek to destroy America and that, and without preconditions being met. That's beyond naive. And it's beyond bad judgment.

The American people, according to the CBS/Times poll:

Just one in ten Americans believes Iran requires military action now, however; sixty-one percent say the threat posed by the country can be contained with diplomacy.

Nearly three in four Americans say it is a good idea for the president to meet with leaders of unfriendly nations; 20 percent say it is a bad idea.

Only 15 percent of Americans believe the United States should try to change a dictatorship to a democracy when it can.

That's exactly the opposite of the McCain talking points Palin is parroting.

Why does virtually everyone in America hate America?