Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Republican voters say former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin shares the values of most GOP voters throughout the nation.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 21% of Republican voters disagree and think the 2008 vice presidential candidate does not share their values. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided.

By contrast, 74% of Republicans say their party’s representatives in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters nationwide over the past several years. Only 18% of Republican voters believe their elected officials have done a good job representing the base.

The findings in these two surveys highlight the political debate within the Republican Party. Party leaders worry that Palin is pushing the GOP too far to the right to win general elections by aligning herself with Tea Party voters frustrated with both parties in Washington and the big government policies they have produced.

Still, just 18% of Republicans - and 26% of voters nationwide - see Palin as a divisive force within the GOP. A plurality believes Palin is representative of a new direction for the Republican Party. That view is held by 57% of Republicans and 41% of all voters. A plurality of Democrats aren’t sure what to think of Palin’s role within the opposing party.

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Among all voters, 41% say Palin shares the values of most GOP voters throughout the nation, while 30% think otherwise and 29% are not sure.

Palin has a new book, “Going Rogue,” coming out this week that gives her side of the 2008 presidential campaign and launches new battles between her and some of her running mate John McCain’s campaign team.

Sixteen percent (16%) of all voters are following news about Palin’s book release very closely, and 20% say they are likely to read it. That latter figure includes 31% of Republican voters. (To order the book, Going Rogue, click HERE).

Last month, Rasmussen Reports found Palin in third place among possible contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Former Arkansas governor and now Fox News host Mike Huckabee is currently the leader of the pack. But Huckabee’s gains since a previous survey are matched almost precisely by Palin’s decline. That suggests a large pool of voters are committed to choosing between Huckabee and Palin, two candidates routinely dismissed as unacceptable in the eyes of Republicans in Washington, D.C.

Forty percent (40%) of Republican voters nationwide said in July that Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska hurt her chances of winning the party’s presidential nomination in 2012.

Overall, 21% of voters nationwide have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin while 29% have a Very Unfavorable view. Keep in mind that those people likely to show up and vote in mid-term elections tend to be somewhat older, more Republican, and more conservative than the population at large.

Forty percent (40%) of Republican voters have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin while 50% of Democrats have a Very Unfavorable view.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of conservatives have a Very Favorable opinion of her while 62% of liberals offer a Very Unfavorable assessment.

Among the Political Class, just 3% have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin while 64% hold a Very Unfavorable view.

Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government. That figure includes 36% who are Very Angry. Most doubt that the leaders of either major political party understand what’s needed.

Just 4% of voters nationwide believe that most politicians keep their promises.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters nationwide now hold populist, or Mainstream, views of government. Seventy percent (70%) generally trust the American people more than political leaders on important national issues. Sixty-eight percent (68%) view the federal government as a special interest group, and 71% believe that the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of likely voters say it is at least somewhat likely the next president of the United States will be a Republican.

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