Report: You betcha Sarah Palin helped John McCain in 2008, has 2016 support base

◼ (A) comprehensive new analysis of the so-called “Palin Effect” finds that in the final analysis, the former Alaska governor helped McCain by attracting more voters to the ticket, crushing a mainstream media view. - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

“Palin had a positive effect on McCain,” according to the new Palin analysis in the authoritative Political Research Quarterly.

Digesting mountains of data, two political science professors from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., said their findings showed that the conventional wisdom that independent voters ran from the McCain-Palin ticket was wrong. They found that independent voters had the same reaction to Palin as Republicans, who largely liked her.