A month after they were named the vice presidential candidates of their respective parties, Sarah Palin is still viewed more favorably by voters than Joseph Biden, 54% to 49%. She also draws stronger feelings - pro and con - in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

While 54% regard Palin favorably, 36% say their view is Very Favorable. But 42% see the Republican vice presidential candidate unfavorably, including 31% who rate their opinion of her as Very Unfavorable (see demographic crosstabs).

Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is viewed favorably by 49%, with 22% saying their view of him is Very Favorable. Forty-one percent (41%) have an unfavorable opinion of the Delaware senator, including 21% who say their opinion is Very Unfavorable.

Only three percent (3%) of voters don’t have an opinion about Palin versus 10% who say that of Biden. It’s also worth noting that 73% have strong opinions about Palin while just 43% hold such views of Biden.

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Vice presidential candidates are generally chosen for strategic reasonsrather than popularity and are viewed as largely insignificant to the overall election. But this year’s choices have proven more notable than usual, with Biden bolstering Barack Obama’s lack of experience and Palin bringing her outsider status and youth to the GOP ticket. Palin may have also reduced the threat of Republican voters opting for a third party candidate this time around.

Although 67% of voters didn’t know enough about Palin, the 44-year-old first-term governor of Alaska, to have an opinion of her before John McCain chose her as his running mate, she has consistently been viewed more favorably than Biden in polls since then. Biden, 65, a member of the Senate since 1973 and current chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was initially far better known since he also had twice run unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination, including this year.

Forty-one percent (41%) say Biden’s 35 years in the Senate make them more likely to vote for him, but 36% say it makes them less likely to do so. For 22%, his years in the Senate will have no impact on their vote.

In a separate survey last week, Palin beat Biden 47% to 44% in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up for the presidency. The two face off in the vice presidential debate Oct. 2 in St. Louis.

Nationally, Obama is inching ahead of McCain in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll after weeks of running neck-and neck.

Palin has brought huge enthusiasm to Republican ranks and triggered a venomous reaction from many Democrats.

Ninetypercent (90%) of Republicans in the new survey have a favorable view of Palin, including 71% who rate that view as Very Favorable. By comparison, 70% of Democrats see her in an unfavorable light, and 53% say their opinion of her is Very Unfavorable.

Biden, on the other hand, is regarded favorably by 68% of Democrats, 42% of whom rate their view of him as Very Favorable. Seventy-three percent (73%) of GOP voters have an unfavorable opinion of Biden, with 43% saying that view is Very Unfavorable.

A series of gaffes, including a highly unusual public rebuke Monday by Obama, hasn’t seemed to hurt Biden seriously, however, with 66% of voters saying a vice presidential nominee who disagrees with the man at the top of his ticket is just being honest. Only 12% say he’s making a mistake. Biden publicly criticized a television ad produced by his own campaign which he feltunfairly attacked McCain. Obama said Biden spoke too soon, and thelatter later backed away from his initial comments about the ad.

Bidenalso drew attention when he recently suggested that Obama might have benefited more politically if he had chosen Hillary Clinton as hisrunning mate. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters agree that Obama might have been better off if he had selected Clinton instead of Biden, but 41% disagree.

Perhaps significantly, Democrats are almost evenly divided on the question. Part of Palin’s attractiveness to the McCain campaign is the possibility that she can draw to the GOP ticket some Democratic voters unhappy that Clinton is not one of their party’s national nominees.

Men, however, continue to view Palin more favorably than women. Male voters give the favorability edge to Palinover Biden 57% to 45%. But just over half of women voters have afavorable view of both vice presidential candidates. While 35% of womenhave a Very Favorable view of Palin, nearly as many (33%) say theyregard her Very Unfavorably.

When Palin was first added to the GOP ticket, some Democrats were convinced she would be forced to withdraw from the ticket. More recently, Biden’s gaffes have raised similar questions about him. However, neither seems likely to leave the ticket. The latest Rasmussen Markets data suggests that there is a % chance that Palin will withdraw and a % chance that Biden will do so.

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