Palin Still Stirs Strong Emotions, Poll Finds

(NewsCore) - WASHINGTON -- Love her or hate her, American voters know Sarah Palin.

In a survey of 1,500 Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters, Gallup found that 95 percent recognized the former Alaskan governor's name -- and she also received the highest "strongly favorable" and "strongly unfavorable" ratings among 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls.

Palin beat out every other Republican candidate in the name-recognition contest, including presumptive frontrunner Mitt Romney, who, like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, hovered at around 80 percent name recognition in the poll released Tuesday.

Palin, who has not announced whether she will run for the Republican presidential nomination, also stirred more passions than any other candidate.

She had a 25 percent "strongly favorable" rating, with Godfather's Pizza tycoon Herman Cain close behind, at 24 percent. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) came in third with a 20 percent "strongly favorable" score.

But Palin also generated the most "strongly unfavorable" feelings, according to the poll. She had a 9 percent "strongly unfavorable" rating, tying her with Gingrich.

Romney, who has come under fire for the health care plan he enacted as governor of Massachusetts, has a "strongly unfavorable" rating of 3 percent, along with Jon Huntsman Jr., the moderate former Utah governor and former ambassador to China.

Read more: Wall Street Journal