New York Times-CBS News survey is showing a clear lack of enthusiasm among Republican voters for their current pool of potential presidential picks. In fact, most don’t know enough about the GOP’s current short list to form an opinion one way or the other.
The survey found that potential candidates that regularly appear on television are the most likely to drum up enthusiasm, like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, both being the only candidates earning more than 50 percent approval ratings from Republican participants. But too much airtime can backfire, it seems. Donald Trump‘s recent presidential talk has had the Hill buzzing, but 60 percent of Republicans interviewed said they did not believe he was a serious candidate.
As for the others, the electorate just doesn’t seem to have enough information. Nearly 80 percent of Republican voters said they did not know enough about Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota to form an opinion of his candidacy. It’s the same story with other candidates: 85 percent said they didn’t know enough about Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to form an opinion, and more than 90 percent said they couldn’t comment on Jon Huntsman Jr., who is stepping down as ambassador to China, because they didn’t know enough about them.
This probably won’t mean much as the Iowa caucuses near, however. Four years ago, 77 percent of Republicans surveyed by The New York Times and CBS News said they did not know enough about Mitt Romney to form an opinion of him, but they were pretty enthusiastic about Rudy Giuliani, whose campaign fizzled out.
Andrea Shiell contributed.
