Exclusive: Sarah Palin on 2012 Plans, Double Standards for Women

Dec. 17, 2010— -- Sarah Palin is surveying the lay of the land to consider whether to make a presidential run in 2012, she told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview, but she added that her decision is still "months down the road."

"It's a prayerful consideration because, obviously, the sacrifices that have to be made in order to put yourself forward in the name of public service is, it's brutal," she said in the interview at her home in Wasilla, Alaska.

"My consideration is for my family," she added, "whether this would be good or not good for the family, whether it would be good or not good for the debate and the discourse in this country, and just trying to get the lay of the land and see who else is out there who would be willing to make those sacrifices."

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that Palin's chances of winning are slim when pitted against President Obama. Fifty-nine percent of Americans polled flatly ruled out voting for Palin for president, compared to 43 percent who said there's no way they'd vote for Obama.

But Palin argued that it's too early to put too much weight into polling numbers.

"A poll number like that, it's like, 'Oh yeah, that doesn't look really pretty today,' but a primary is months and months in the process, and there are thankfully many debates," she said. "And if I were to participate in that contested primary -- you know, it -- I would be in it to win it."

CLICK HERE for photos of Palin taking Roberts on a snowmachine ride.

Palin took heat from the media as Sen. John McCain's vice presidential candidate in 2008 and she said there remains a double standard when it comes to women.

Incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner's recent crying spree has left many wondering whether a woman in his position would have gotten a pass had she unleashed her emotions in the same way.

"I don't know if a woman would be given a pass necessarily," the former governor said. "I respect John Boehner because he has worn his feelings on his sleeve on things that are so important to him ... and I give him that pass, too.

"But that's one of those things where a double standard certainly is applied," she added. "I'm sure if I got up there and did a speech and I started breaking down and cried about how important it is to me that our children and our grandchildren are provided great opportunities, I'm sure that I would be knocked a little bit for that.

"It makes us work that much harder and be that much tougher and more committed to the message and the mission at hand," she said.

Since the 2008 campaign, Palin said she has become much more guarded about what she says. But the fiery mother of five isn't backing down from the public eye.

She recently finished a whirlwind 10-day, 16-state tour to promote her new book, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag," which hit bookshelves in November.

The debut episode of her new reality show "Sarah Palin's Alaska," became the most-watched series premiere in TLC history, attracting 5 million viewers.

But controversy continues to follow the former governor. She was blasted by animal rights groups for shooting a caribou on her hit show and, most recently, Hollywood director Aaron Sorkin expressed outrage at the episode, calling her a "phony pioneer girl" who killed a moose for political gain.

Palin said she was appalled by his comments.

"We eat, therefore we hunt -- and I am thankful that I get to feed my kids organic food," she said. "If they don't wear leather shoes and a belt and drive a car with leather seats and they eat no meat, then they have somethin' to say. And I can listen to them when they say, 'How dare you kill an animal to feed a family,' because they don't participate in that. And at least they're sincere about it.

"But I'd say 99 percent of the critics, you know, they're wearin' their leather belts and they're eatin' their hamburgers somewhere -- and they're gonna tell me that it's immoral or not the right thing to do to go out there and actually harvest that resource, that piece of protein myself?" she asked.