Palin says White House decision still months away

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin speaks to reporters at a storage area containing supplies for shelters run by Samaritan's Purse, a Christian charity group, in Cabaret December 12, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sarah Palin said in an interview aired on Friday that she is months away from deciding on a run for U.S. president but would not be fazed by weak poll numbers if she chose to seek the Republican Party nomination.

"It's a prayerful consideration," the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"Other folks can jump in and that kind of helps you get that lay of the land. But my decision won't be made for some months still," she said.

Palin has become a celebrity of the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement over the past two years by gaining recognition as a best-selling author, a television pundit and the host of her own TV reality show.

She is currently promoting her second book, "America by Heart."

She is among more than a dozen Republicans believed to be considering a White House run against President Barack Obama in 2012.

But her potential candidacy has already divided Republican ranks. Some party officials see her as a potential front-runner with a large grass-roots base. Others say she lacks the gravitas to oust Obama, even if he were struggling.

A recent ABC/Washington Post poll shows her lagging Obama by 22 percentage points in a hypothetical match-up and says six in 10 voters would not consider voting for her.

"A poll number like that? That doesn't look really pretty today," Palin conceded to ABC.

"But a primary is months and months in the process, and there are thankfully many debates. And if I were to participate in that contested primary, I would be in it to win it."

Palin also took issue with Obama over the $858 billion package of renewed tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits that passed the House of Representatives and Senate this week.

The legislation resulted from a compromise between congressional Republicans and the White House, which initially opposed extending the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

"You can term it compromise. I term it flip-flop," Palin said. "It is a flip-flop in his position on taxes because he was so adamant about not allowing the tax cut extension to take place for job creators."

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Jerry Norton)