Poll: Palin Lacks Support Among GOP 'Blue Bloods'

Are Sarah Palin's presidential ambitions exposing an old class divide within the GOP, or creating a new one? A trio of polls shows that less affluent, non-college graduates back Palin in the GOP primary at about twice the rate of "wealthy, college-educated Republicans," Nate Silver reports in his New York Times "FiveThirtyEight" blog.

That was brought home earlier this week when Palin responded to Barbara Bush's dig that she should "stay in Alaska" by suggesting that criticism of her comes from 'blue bloods.'

"The candidate whose numbers move in an opposite direction from Ms. Palin is Mitt Romney," Silver writes, citing the wealthy former Massachusetts governor and Harvard-educated investment banker.

The populist tea party movement that embraced Palin - the former Alaska governor and 2010 GOP vice presidential candidate - has received ample financial backing from Republican elites including the billionaire Koch Brothers and philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife. But polls conducted by CNN, Quinnipac and Marist College suggest that support from GOP elites doesn't carry over to the rest of the bracket. "One potential problem for Ms. Palin ... is that plenty of well-to-do and well-educated voters ... will be participating in the Republican primaries," Silver writes.