As I've noted here before, the evidence is mounting that Sarah Palin is successfully tightening her emotional grip on her devoted legions of supporters -- at the expense of everyone else, who increasingly find her to be a major turn off.
Here's the latest data point: A new survey from the Dem firm Public Policy Polling finds that in the wake of Palin's endorsement of Kelly Ayotte, the GOP Senate candidate in New Hampshire, Ayotte's lead has dropped to its lowest level yet.
And it appears to be all about Palin: As Taegan Goddard notes, the poll's key finding is that Ayotte's appeal to moderate voters has dropped precipitiously in the wake of Palin's endorsement.
The key here is that this isn't a one-off finding: Palin's toxicity is born out in other polls, too. A recent Gallup poll noted a striking disconnect in public attitudes towards Palin: While her favorability rating is far higher among Republicans than any other 2012 GOP contenders, she's also far and away the least liked of all the 2012 hopefuls among Americans overall.
That's not all: A recent NBC/WSJ poll found that a majority of adults nationwide would look negatively on candidates endorsed by Palin.
The pattern is becoming overwhelmingly obvious. Palin's current role of celebrity quasi-candidate works for her. It's allowed her to insulate herself from direct media cross-examination and to communicate directly to the Palin Nation hordes, who remain as transfixed as ever. But the rest of the world continues to find her more and more distasteful, and it's growing less likely that she'll succeed if she ever steps outside the bubble she's crafted for herself.
UPDATE, 1:03 p.m.: It gets better: That new poll out of New Hampshire also finds that 51 percent say they're less likely to back a Palin-endorsed candidate; among moderates that number is 65 percent.
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