New York, Oct 31: A growing number of voters have concluded that Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, is not qualified to be vice president, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Fifty nine percent of voters surveyed said that Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month.

As it is customary for candidates to return to their home state to vote on Election Day, the Alaska Governor is also expected to do the same. The campaign, however, has not announced this officially yet, due to the amount of time it takes to fly to Alaska and the need for the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee to continue campaigning.

In case Palin travels to her Anchorage office the evening of November 3rd, she will travel back to the continental US after she votes, to join her running mate in Phoenix for their Election Night party.

While political leaders often achieve national prominence by riding a wave of issues or ideology, the strength of Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin lies more in her image. Palin has unapologetically cast her image as one who shares the lot and the views of a large segment of the population. 

Though there has been exhaustive, undeniably sexist criticism of this Alaska Governor, she has been unequivocal in giving visibility and a voice to her supporters - mostly non-urban and white voters, neither poor nor wealthy, religious, who strive for self-reliance.

Washington - Less than one week before the US general election, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin took centre stage in the campaign Wednesday with a major policy speech on energy, while Democratic rival Barack Obama launched his first television ad directed against Palin.

Palin, running alongside John McCain, promised an "all-of-the- above approach" to end US dependence on foreign energy and encourage the production of domestic sources, focussing on renewables as well as more oil drilling. She slammed Obama for a "long, laboured agenda of inaction" on energy.

McCain has touted Palin, governor of oil and natural-gas rich Alaska since 2006, as a key advisor for energy policy should he make it into the White House.