Poll: Most Americans can't name GOP candidates
Washington (CNN) - The growing number of Republican presidential hopefuls face a long road to gain support and attention from their party and other Americans, according to a new poll.
Americans remain relatively unaware of the various potential 2012 GOP candidates, according to results from a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday. The survey found that more than half of Americans cannot name a single GOP presidential candidate.
Donald Trump is currently the most outspoken and the most visible of the potential candidates. Twenty-six percent of responders tagged the real-state mogul as the most public contender.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney trails far behind.. His presidential hopes are on the radar of nine percent of Republican responders. Sarah Palin came in third at four percent. Only one percent of people said they've heard most about Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty.
While 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls are being given their fair share of media attention, only 20 percent of respondents reported closely following the 2012 presidential candidates, opting to focus their attention on the disaster in Japan, the most closely followed story during the second week of April, according to the survey.
A separate poll finds that a majority of Republicans keeping tabs on the early presidential players are not yet sold on any current potential candidate. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday, nearly 60 percent of Republican voters cannot single out a candidate they were excited about.
When asked if there was any potential GOPer they felt enthusiastic about, nine percent of Republican voters were keen on Romney. Another contender garnering a small support base of eight percent was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Falling in third at seven percent was Donald Trump.
Huckabee was viewed most favorably by Republican voters who were asked how they felt about specific potential GOP candidates. Nearly eight in ten Republican respondents said they did not know enough about Tim Pawlenty to come up with a favorable or unfavorable view of the former Minnesota governor in the poll. Eighty-five percent of Republican respondents did not know enough about Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to form an opinion.
The Pew poll surveyed data from the top news stories in the week of April 14-17 among 1,015 adults. It has a sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
The New York Times/CBS poll was conducted by telephone April 15-20, among 1,332 adults. The sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
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most americans are worried about the house payment, kids grades, gas prices and whats for diner....its a long time till 2012...just ticker folks can name g o p canidates...opps we need to get a life.....
I cannot name any GOTP candidates, either. Except for lesser knowns who need a jump on fund raising, they haven't really declared their candidacy. Technically, one could argue that there aren't any GOTP candidates.
(I just wanted slip GOTP in there, once or twice.)
How about Potential candidates?
It's sad to say, but most Americans are just plain dumb. Majority are the people who watch Fixed, I mean Fox Entertainment News.
2012 band of crazy...
This is a surprise in what universe?
Makes sense. Most people can't name the different types of manure either....the other presidential candidate.
I do but can't say I like any of them. They are really three bad one Saran Palin, Michele Bachmann, And Donald Trump couldn't win and are IDIOT.
That's because nobody cares.
MOST Americans don't care – they won't get our vote. Bring out the computers that installed Dubya and maybe they'll get close to PRESIDENT OBAMA.
Becuase right now there is only one canddate- Romney. All the others are just taking up space in the press and giving the media something to do. As for potential candidates- I call them Frick, Frack, Quack, Wack and Hack- the real names are interchangable, but at least can cover the top five.
Say Thank you CNN and FOX- without them what woudl you fill 24/7 programming with?
Huey , Dooie , Louie , Larry , Curley and Moe ?
Call me when one of these idiots actually makes a formal announcement that they are running for President.
Maybe because all of these clowns are nothing but a joke! Your only candidate, Romney is the only person that has a true chance and the problem with him is when he was Governor of Mass, gave them the same type of healthcare as Obama did.
I know them all from Romney to Santorum, and a more motley crew I've never seen.
Don't ask the Republicans to do with a trillion dollar deficit. They continue to bring up those who helped bring us a deficit. Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2. So it really doesn't surprise me that anyone cannot identify the current GOP candidates! As for the Tea Party candidates, if elected, their environmental policies will render tap water in this country a health hazard for a pot of tea!
I name them
""this little piggy is a birther, this little piggy is a neocon. This little piggy is crazy; and this little piggy is owned (by the filthy rich."
How many people could name Barack Obama before he ran??? No one
Romney is not a viable candidate for America by any stretch of the imagination. He made his fortune greedily destroying jobs and preying on average Americans. You might as well let a pedophile run a preschool.
I could name all the losers a few months ago. Right now they are coming out of the walls like roaches. Anyone who has been a governor (even the hafl term) or is/was a representative or senator or a disgraced speaker of the house is fair game on the growing list of clowns.
They sure CAN name them, all with four-letter words.
This is because most Americans are politically illiterate. Ever watch JayWalking? Elections have become beauty contests where a large percentage of voters based their decision on extremely superficial issues like: appearance, hipness, public speaking skills, skills of the candidates marketing team, 15 and 30 second sound bites. It is disgusting. It is a big part of the reason the country is in the mess it is.
I'm just curious to see who the Democrats will nominate.
That is interesting since they are all slammed in our faces day in and day out. However, all of them are also very forgettable for substance, but memorable for being characters.
Let me see, Sleepy, Dopey, Bashful (hardly).......... I need to look up the other 4