Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, R, has seen her popularity dip considerably in recent months both in her home state of Alaska and nationwide. This year her PAC has raised less than half of the money they had at this time last year and if she were to run for Senator she would lose handedly, according to the Huffington Post.
Palin's PAC, SarahPAC, brought in $460,000 through the end of June according to a report by the Federal Election Commission. In the same six month time period in 2012 SarahPAC raised just under $1.2 million. In fact, through the first six months of the year SarahPAC spent more money than it brought in, according to USA Today.
Of the close to $500,000 spent by SarahPAC through June only $5,000 was spent on a political candidate, Jason Smith, while he ran for congress in a special election in Missouri. The rest of the money was spent on consultants, mailings and postage and other operating expenses. Over $48,000 was spent on travel expenses, according to USA Today.
While Palin's political action committee is far from broke, they have close to $1.1 million in the bank, but it can't be a good sign that they are spending more than they are bringing in with the 2014 elections on the horizon.
"The PAC has the resources ready to contribute to whomever the governor decides to support and endorse during the 2014 election cycle," Tim Crawford, SarahPAC's treasurer, told USA Today.
Unlike many PACs, SarahPAC still receives the majority of its donations in the form of small individual gifts under $200, according to the Huffington Post.
Palin has made vague suggestions that she may be considering a run at the senate in 2014. Of the Republicans who have announced that they intend to run Palin finds herself to be the preferred candidate, although, that's where the good news ends for the former governor.
According to a recent poll by Public Policy Polling Palin would get destroyed by current Senator Mark Begich, D, in what is one of the more Republican leaning states in the nation. If Palin were to face Begich today she would lose the election by 12 points, 52 percent to 40 percent. Oddly, the Republican who would finish second to Palin in a primary, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, would fight a tight race against Begich according to the poll.
"It looks like Begich/Treadwell would be a very competitive race," Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, said. "Republicans just have to hope their primary voters nominate the right candidate."
Some of the other questions asked by the poll also had troubling results for the former governor. Only 39 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of Palin, 58 percent considered her to be unfavorable. Alaskans also don't seem to be pleased that Palin spends so little time in her home state. Forty-six percent of people polled did not consider Palin to even be an Alaskan anymore and 37 percent said that if she wants to make a run at the Senate it would be more appropriate for her to do so from Arizona.
