One thing for sure: Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on the future direction of the Republican Party.

Coming off a shellacking at the polls in November, the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 24% think failed presidential candidate John McCain is the best future model for the party, and 10% are undecided.

Only 17% of Republican voters say their party has been too conservative, and 30% say its actions and positions have been about right, with nine percent (9%) not sure.

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%), however, say the Republican Party has been too conservative, and 42% think it should look to McCain for the future. Twelve percent (12%) of Democratic voters see Palin as a future role model, and 40% aren’t sure what’s best for their rivals.

Fifteen`percent (15%) of Democrats say the opposite party has been too moderate, and five percent (5%) classify it as about right. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

There is one area of agreement though: Just 11% of Republicans and six percent (6%) of Democrats say the party should become more like former President Bush.

Unaffiliated voters are much more closely divided. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say the party has been too conservative over the past eight years, while 34% think it’s been too moderate. For 14%, the party’s been about right, and 13% are undecided.

Regarding the future of the party, 46% of unaffiliated voters say follow Sarah Palin, while 26% like McCain. Just five percent (5%) give the nod to Bush, and 22% are not sure which way the party should go.

Put them all together, and 42% of voters say the GOP has been too conservative in the last eight years, 29% say too moderate, 16% about right, and 13% are not sure. Thirty-six percent (36%) say the party should become more like Palin, 32% like McCain, seven percent (7%) like Bush, and 25% are undecided.

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Fifty-eight percent (58%) of all voters have a favorable opinion of McCain, including 15% who say Very Favorable. Forty percent (40%) regard him unfavorably, with 12% whose views are Very Unfavorable.

For Palin, her favorables are 52% (28% Very Favorable) and her unfavorables are 46%, with 26% who see her in a Very Unfavorable light.

Again, the party differences are enormous, although Democrats clearly like McCain more than Palin while for GOP voters the opposite is true.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of Republican voters have a Very Favorable view of McCain, compared to five percent (5%) of Democrats. Nineteen percent (19%) of Democratic voters have a Very Unfavorable opinion of the Arizona senator, but only six percent (6%) of Republicans agree.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Republicans have a Very Favorable regard for Palin, while an identical number of Democrats (51%) hold a Very Unfavorable view.

Palin fares better with unaffiliated voters, too. For McCain, unaffiliateds break 10% Very Favorable and eight percent (8%) Very Unfavorable. But 35% of unaffiliated voters have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin, compared to 15% who have a Very Unfavorable view.

Even right before Election Day, Republicans were happier with Palin, their vice presidential candidate, than with their presidential nominee McCain.

Just after losing the election, 69% Republican voters said Palin helped McCain’s bid for the presidency, and nearly two-thirds said she should be the party’s 2012 presidential nominee. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters had a Very Favorable view of her at that time.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of conservative voters say the Republican Party has been too moderate over the last eight years, while 56% of moderates say it’s been too conservative, a view shared by 75% of liberals. Fifty-five percent (55%) of conservatives like a GOP future with Palin in it, but pluralities of liberals (48%) and moderates (42%) say McCain is the model to follow.

Younger voters are more likely than their elders to think the GOP has been too conservative during the Bush years, but voters in nearly all age groups are more closely divided on the future direction of the party between McCain and Palin.

Just 15% of Evangelical Christian voters feel that the Republican Party has been too conservative for the past eight years, while 50% think it has been too moderate. By contrast, pluralities of other Protestant voters (40%) and Catholics (38%) feel the party has gone too far to the right.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Evangelical Christians say the party should become more like Palin. Other Protestant voters are more closely divided, giving Palin just a four-point edge over McCain, while Catholics prefer following McCain by eight points.

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