Sarah Palin's response to Arizona shooting earned thumbs down from most Americans

Sarah Palin's response to Arizona shooting earned thumbs down from most Americans: survey

By Nina Mandell

Monday, January 17th 2011, 8:20 PM

Only 30% of people approved of the way Sarah Palin responded to the Arizona shootings.

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Sarah Palin's response to the deadly Arizona shootings fell flat with many Americans - including many of her supporters, according to a new poll.

Only 30% of those surveyed in a new ABC News-Washington Post poll approved of the way Palin responded to the deadly rampage, while 78% approved of the way President Obama handled it.

Forty-six percent of people surveyed disapproved with the way Palin handled the situation.

Even John McCain, the President's opponent in the 2008 race, commended his political opponent on his actions following the massacre.

"We are Americans and fellow human beings, and that shared distinction is so much more important than the disputes that invigorate our noisy, rough-and-tumble political culture," he wrote in an editorial for the Washington Post on Sunday. "That is what I heard the President say on Wednesday evening. I commend and thank him for it."

While many politicians called for unity after the national tragedy, Palin found herself at the center of a partisan debate after a 2010 ad created by her camp was criticized for depicting Gabrielle Giffords' district with cross-hairs over it, and many people blamed heated rhetoric for the attempted assassination.

Things got worse for Palin when she started attacking the media and critics through material posted on her website and Facebook account.

"Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn," she wrote. "That is reprehensible."

The term "blood libel" has historically been used to refer to the false claim that Jews used the blood of Christian children for rituals.

According to the ABC-Post poll released on Monday, the former Alaska governor even disappointed her own party. Less than half of Republicans surveyed said they approved of the way she handled the shootings.

The failure to connect with people in the face of tragedy may deeply hurt her presidential goals if she has them, pundits said.

"Palin, who is so expert in capturing the feelings, frustrations and hopes of a certain segment of the population, demonstrated no range," Slate columnist John Dickerson wrote. "She offered nothing to meet this moment. Her remarks were defensive, illogical, and distracting."

Palin, however, is never without a strong group of supporters.

Shortly after the shootings, Fox News contributor Glenn Beck emailed her to see how she was holding up after the barrage of criticism and even death threats he said she received. On Monday night, she will appear on Sean Hannity's show in what could be a first step to rebuilding her image.

Hannity, a conservative commentator, has fiercely defended Palin in light of her latest controversy.

"If you are being accused of being an accessory to murder, don't you think you are going to respond? Of course," he said on "Fox and Friends" Monday morning.