Boom goes the dynamite.

Ladies & Gentlemen, courtesy of the most accurate pollster of the 2008 election, I present you the current frontrunner for the 2012 GOP nomination:

"Ninety-one percent (91%) of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin, including 65% who say their view is Very Favorable. Only eight percent (8%) have an unfavorable view of her, including three percent (3%) Very Unfavorable.

When asked to choose among some of the GOP’s top names for their choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, 64% say Palin. The next closest contenders are two former governors and unsuccessful challengers for the presidential nomination this year -- Mike Huckabee of Arkansas with 12% support and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 11%.

Three other sitting governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Charlie Crist of Florida and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota – all pull low single-digit support."

Wow.

Now, is this all because of name recognition? It's definitely an aspect of it. But Rasmussen seems to infer that Palin, Romney and Huckabee all seem to have equal levels recognition:

"Jindal, Pawlenty, and Crist are far less known than the other candidates. Roughly 40% of GOP voters have no opinion one way or the other of these three Republican Governors."

Either way, when you have an approval rating of 91%, having high name recognition is nothing but positive news for Palin. She should be able to ride that tide of approval for quite awhile since she will be out of the news for quite some time, thereby removing the risk of sullying her reputation...or improving it.

It couldn't be more obvious that we have a lonnnngggg way to go until Iowa, but numbers like these only help in building support among influential insider Republicans and raising money.