After a long weekend of Democratic criticism of John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, over half of voters (52%) still have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the Alaska governor. Thirty-one percent (31%) view her very favorably.

Voters are evenly divided on whether Palin was the right choice for McCain and whether her selection makes them more or less likely to vote for the Republican candidate. But 69% of GOP voters believe the choice was a good one, while nearly as many Democrats (63%) disagree. Unaffiliated voters are evenly divided as well.

Thirty-six percent (36%) have an unfavorable view of Palin, including 16% with a Very Unfavorable opinion.

All these numbers are consistent with a survey Rasmussen Reports did Friday night after McCain introduced Palin at a rally in Dayton, Ohio earlier in the day and ignited a firestorm of media coverage about the largely unknown candidate. She is only the second woman to be on the national ticket of a major U.S. political party, and her selection is clearly intended in part to peel away female Democrats disaffected by the failure of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

But Democrats and unaffiliated voters are clearly more skeptical of Palin's candidacy now than they were in the earlier survey.

While the initial polling reaction to Palin has been fairly positive, the most significant numbers will be those following the Republican National Convention. Because she is so new to the national scene, Palin’s speech may be the most important moment at that event. Prior to McCain’s announcement, 67% said that they didn’t know enough about Palin to have an opinion.

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Numerous media accounts over the last three days have made it clear that the choice of the 44-year-old mother of five to run with McCain has forced Barack Obama’s campaign into, as the New York Times put it, “recalibrating their strategies for the presidential campaign — and reconsidering some of their basic assumptions about which states and voters are in play. …”

Initial polling showed, too, that Palin’s selection was viewed slightly more favorably than the Democrat’s choice of Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware as his running mate.

Perhaps most importantly for McCain’s party, a separate Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday showed that Palin’s selection is helping to fire up the GOP rank-and-file. While 73% of Democrats said they are voting for their candidate with enthusiasm in November, 57% of Republicans now say the same. Previous surveys have not shown this level of GOP enthusiasm.

If McCain’s strategy was to reach out to women voters, however, thus far it hasn’t been successful. The night after the announcement, slightly more women voters viewed Palin as the right choice for McCain’s running mate, but now 41% say she was not, versus 36% who still believe she was a good choice. Forty-one percent (41%) of women say they are less likely now to vote for McCain because of Palin, as opposed to 31% who say they are more likely to support him. Women voters were essentially even on this question in the earlier survey.

Men still back McCain’s decision. Forty-one percent (41%) say she was the right choice, while 37% disagree. Earlier, men favored the decision by a 43% to 31% margin. Forty-three percent (43%) of men voters say they are more likely to vote for McCain because of his choosing of Palin as a running mate, but 34% say they are less likely to do so. This is a jump in support from the earlier survey.

But even a plurality of men (47%) say Palin is not ready to be president in the event of the 72-year-old McCain being incapacitated while in the White House, although 32% believe she is ready. Women voters by a nearly two-to-one margin believe Palin is not ready.

The gender gap on Palin is likely a reflection of the larger gender gap in American politics. Women are more likely to vote for Obama while men are more likely to vote for McCain.

Voters overall by a 48% to 29% margin say Palin is not ready yet to be president, a view shared by 74% of Democrats and 48% of unaffiliated voters but only 16% of Republicans.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of voters view Palin’s ideology as at least somewhat conservative, while 11% describe her as a moderate and just two percent (2%) think she is somewhat liberal.

See the latest tracking poll numbers on our Daily Presidential Tracking poll page.

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