A large majority of tea party members want Sarah Palin to stay out of the 2012 presidential race, according to a Fox News poll released Friday.
Among respondents who identified themselves as members of the tea party, a staggering 66 percent said that Palin should sit on the sidelines, while only 28 percent wanted to see her in the race.
Even more Republicans -- 71 percent -- thought she would be making a mistake by declaring her candidacy. In all, 74 percent of voters hoped she would not be getting in.
The former Alaska governor received her lowest support from non-white voters: only 13 percent were ready to give their approval to her candidacy.
"When I run into tea party people across the country, many of them tell me, 'Look, I love Sarah Palin. I hope she doesn't run for president,'" Republican strategist Karl Rove told Fox News' Gregg Jarrett Friday.
"I think her diminishing influence, these rising number of people who don't want her to run, is a result of her having a on-again, off-again tease. She ought to get in or she ought to get out."
The Hill's Christian Heinze suspected that the bad poll numbers might make Palin even more likely to run.
"That's because she hates being marginalized, under-appreciated, or dismissed," he wrote. "Politics is personal, but with her, it's extra personal -- that's one of the reasons why she reacts so vociferously to the slightest criticism"
