E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSIf you’re interested in becoming the president of the United States, there’s one first crucial question you have to answer for the American people:
“Wait, wait… WHO?”
A new national poll out Wednesday underscores that, in this year’s 2012 potential presidential field, there’s a wide discrepancy between the name ID haves and the have-nots.
According to the Quinnipiac survey – which, as we wrote this morning, shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leading the GOP contenders at 18 percent – most Americans have an opinion on the candidates who have dominated recent national polls. Only one percent of all Americans said they haven’t heard of Donald Trump or Sarah Palin; ten and nine percent, respectively, could not identify Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Seven percent scratched their heads at Newt Gingrich’s name as well.
But over a third (35 percent) of respondents said they haven’t heard of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, one of the first declared contenders. Pawlenty clocked in at four percent support in the Quinnipiac poll.
Also with 35 percent of respondents replying “who?” was former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who won the support of just one percent of respondents in the poll.
Both Santorum and Pawlenty are planning to attend tomorrow night’s first – and sparse -- GOP debate in Greeneville, S.C.
They’ll appear on stage alongside a series of longshot candidates: former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
Of the five debaters, Paul is the most recognized and the most popular, according to Quinnipiac. About 4 in 5 Americans in the poll have heard of the quirky libertarian-leaning congressman and former presidential candidate, and he’s polling at five percent.
Leave a Comment:
So, using this logic, an awful lot of people are jut plain wrong about the current president.
In May of 2007, most people said "who?" when Obama's name came up, so I guess Hillary Clinton is the president.
Who would believe that many people could be confused like this!
No actually... and I'm not sure where you are getting your facts.
In May 2007 (a year and a half before the elections in November 2008) the following was posted as a result of a Zogby poll:
So yeah... not sure exactly where the comparison your drawing originates from, but this is the first time in modern presidential history that we are within a year and a half and have no serious prospective primary candidates announced.
Barack Obama had serious name recognition in 2004 following his keynote speech at the DNC.
Hell, I knew Obama would be president long before the primary. So I registered Republican because I thought McCain needed my vote more. Turns out the Republican primary went quick and McCain, who I previously respected, went nuts and selected Palin. I still think he gave up that September, you could see it in his eyes.
So far I think the Vegas bookies are probably giving Obama good odds at being reelected.
" Only one percent of all Americans said they haven’t heard of Donald Trump or Sarah Palin".
Which just proves that old saying - ignorance, indeed, must be bliss.
Can I move to wherever they live?
Just gotta love those TP/Repubs! Keep adding more "unknowns" to your roster, spread the field out a little more, and Pres. Obama will pick you off, one, by one. I'm laughing now!
With Palin, Trump and Gingrich in the field of candidates, halloween masks sales are goin to skyrocket
David you left bachmann off your list, with that maddog face she would sell out.
In 2010 the GOP ran on jobs, jobs, jobs! This is what we got, Repeal of health care, stop all funding for abortion, more tax breaks, kill SS and Medicare, kill NPR funding, kill Wall Street reform, injecting their Religious views into politics,war on women's rights,union busting.
Not one jobs bill presented in the House. In 2010 they lied to the American people! What could the possibly run on in 2012. The President is not American? The President is soft on Terrorism, We are not safe? Water-boarding works.
Fool the American people once.
Poor GOP/TP. They have both a message AND a candidate problem. They can't settle on either one! On the latter they can't even find a taker with credibility.
Line 'em up and watch them projectile hurl talking points at one another for entertainment.
Cardog,
I agree that the "shock jocks" make existing problems worse with lies and half truths. To be fair, there are guilty parties on the right and the left. Ludlow, Olberman (sp?) and others on the left are just as bad as Rush, Levin and Beck.
As to the news broadcasts (i.e.; not the opinion hours), the actual Fox news broadcasts seem about equivalent to the MSNBC news (albiet, from the opposite end of the political spectrum).
As much as both extremes annoy me at times, I'd much rather live in a country that tolerates this behavior, then live in a country that censors these types of views.
Let's remember that ABC is owned by the mouse. I notice that their television coverage is leaning ever more to the right.
Funny the "right" DRIVE division with their hate to moment he is elected. Their primary mission is to reject everything he says and does. Broadcast hate through every media possible. Tank the country to get him out of office, then turn around as say "we don't like him because he is the most divisive president". How transparent!
THEY are the only FOOLS who think we can't still see them when they cover their eyes.
Obviously, every one who disagrees with modern liberalism, even if they back their position with facts and logic (which they often do) must be discredited faster than you can say "teabagger". (BTW, "shock jocks" play records between their bits rather than take calls, which is what makes them "jocks", i.e. disc jockeys). Disagreeing with the Bushes, like calling them Hitler or suggesting that they be assasinated, is of course not "hate speech", rather just constitutionally protected dissent. However, saying that Barack H. Obama (hey, I didn't name him, his parents did) is anything less than perfect, is seditious, evil, probably even downright treasonable. This is certainly logically consistent -- if, like Alice, you are "through the looking glass".
Sure, right now the Republican field looks somewhere between laughably weak nd unelectable. But think about this -- how known outside of Arkansas and political activist circles was Bill Clinton known in May 1991? Or Jimmy Carter in May of 1975, for that matter? I wouldn't count on it being a waltz for the President. Revenues are still down to about where they were before growth largely stopped in 2007, inflation seems to be back, and, face it, the sitmulus package just didn't do very much, much less than advertised. GHWB was proclaimed to be unbeatable just about this time in 1991, and remember what happened.
But think about this -- how known outside of Arkansas and political activist circles was Bill Clinton known in May 1991? Or Jimmy Carter in May of 1975,
Valid point except for 1 huge factor. The Democratic party in 1976 and 1992, when Carter and Clinton came out of nowhere to win was controlled by SANE people. Today's Republican Party is controlled by INSANE people. This is a center to a center right nation. The republican base (and the base is in charge) has turned the Republican Party into a radical, fanatical, right wing party run by the craziest of the crazies. Today's Republican Party is even farther out of the mainstream than the Democrats were in 1972 when they lost 49 states.
And then you begin to do your research, and you discover that the whole bunch of them are either sicko or psycho! Must take a lot of guts to declare yourself a Republican these days!
But i tell you that julius i mean barak has shown time and again that he is among the greatest military genius ever as well as a brilliant statesman and economist. But his enemies continue to try to swift boat him. To turn bin laden's demise to an embarrassment to julius. The gop, birthers, & tea pary and sarah & the rushbo will say anything and are reaching for straws.
I tell you they are all talk and should have gotten to bin laden years ago but instead only talked about it. You know. Wanted dead or alive. You can run but cannot hide. Bring'em on. But each year, they made the legend of bin laden greater and greater for 8 straight years.
Then in just a year and half, julius finds bin laden and makes plans to take action and does the job. No talk. No political grandstanding. Just getting the job done. I tell you it is the difference between sarah, the rushbo & julius. He gets the job done. I tell you it's what the country wants. No talk, no grandstanding, no politicizing, just action to get the job done.
Unfortunately, to get any attention, from the republican/teapublican rank and file, any more, you have to sound unhinged. Candidates that I see as serious republicans, like Daniels, Pawlenty, Santorum, and Romeny, don't get heard because their voices are being drowned out, by the likes of Trump, Bachman, and Gingrich. The real voices, of the party are now Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity et al. Unless a candidate mirrors their conspiracy filled, democrats are the root of all evil rhetoric, they don't even get heard. For a party that is continually trumpeting the seriousness, of our problems, they sure don't stay on point very well.
Mad independent, are you talking about FOX gop TEANUT bull$h!t news network. ?????????????
Serious Republicans like...santorum? You are joking aren't you? trounced for reelection by 18%.
The Republicans need to disband.
Why in the day and age of the Internet do we need 'parties' anyway? Here's a radical idea. Let's elect candidates instead of parties. Let's not allow 'groups' to own candidates. Let's elect them ourselves based on how 'we' feel about them.
We really need a third party. Let's call it the Centrists Party.
I'd say that we should call the 3rd party the People's Party, but then the next commentor on here will call it a communist name. If you think to consider that our gov't. is supposed to be of the people, by the people, for the people, it makes more sense to call it the People's Party. I guess it makes too much sense to become a reality.
We already have a third party, a so-called People's Party. The Tea Party.
While I like the concept of a 3rd (and 4th, etc.) party, the reality is, it won't get enough support to do anything other than hurt whichever major political party it's views most closely resemble. (by splitting votes)
@Jim in Houston---your tea party lost all credibility when they sold out to get elected. Do you see a "T" behind their names? No? Me either.
Echo82,
I think the Tea Party did what it had to do to be relevant. If they had gone the way of say, the Green Party or Libertarians, they would have never gotten enough votes to make a difference. So, they aligned themselves with the party whose positions were closest to their core values.
Aligned? Not the way I see it. If they really wanted to do the things the said they did, they would run (and legislate) as third party. They are part of the problem now, nothing more. No credibility.
echo82,
If they had run as a 3rd party they would have only won a handful of house seats - if any. How would that have helped them accomplish their goals?
What goals Ron? I have seen nothing but feet dragging since the last election.
They surely are not working on what got them elected.
The Tea Party tried to advertize itself as a neo-libertarianist group, a good idea for a 3rd/4th party. What they turned out to be was just another Whig/Know-Nothing Party, filled with the same social conservatives and amateur supply-side economists as the Republican Party. Absolutely nothing new for the national conversation.
Liberals/Democrats will embrace their fringe elements when politically necessary. Conservatives/Republicans let their fringe run the show.
I have to disagree on the Tea Party impact. They are pushing everyone to talk seriously about the deficit. They have caused trouble for the Republican leadership because they are not in lock step with the party - which I think is a good thing.
Ron, tea party elected are Republicans. Their "leader" is Michele Bachmann. How long has she been in office? She is a Republican now and has been. What the GOP is currently doing is the same old thing all wrapped in tea party friendly packaging. It's surprising that people can't easily see that.
Who cares? All they want to do is steal more money and send it upstairs. And make sure every 12 year old pregnant kid is stuck forever without healthcare. Maybe they'll all agree to give government lice combs to the citizens. That is the least they could do.
The gop TEANUTS are chocking on bin laden death and their all upset, whats up with that you would think that would be good news to them. Maybe the TEANUTS are upset because they couldn't accomplist that with " W " in 8 years on their watch. The TEANUTS will do anything to regain power. The TEANUTS are numbnuts.
Why the hate? Why can't you just disagree with someone's views without attacking them personally?
1% of all Americans haven't heard of Trump or Palin? They must of just got here.
We can all see where this is going. If a Repooplican does manage to get elected it will likely be on the basis of name recognition, not because they have any real qualifications to be President. Repooplicans, the situation is hopeless, you have failed to develop a leader amongst your ranks because you have gone completely off the deep end in search of a celebrity instead of a Statesman.
Wow.....let's talk about biased reporting? Using words like 'quirky' for Dr. Paul. Is it not amazing that the article is talking about name recognition yet they made such a brief aside to mentioning Dr. Paul at the very end of the article. 4 of 5 survey said they knew his name but all we got was a quick blurb?
Pitifully biased article. Shame, shame, shame.
I think that the best thing for the USA is a Trump/Palin or Palin/Trump ticket. The world would appreciate the genuis of the American people in picking this great team to lead the free world.
OK, I've finished laughing at my own joke (see above) but the REALLY unfortunate thing is that Trump and Palin think they're good to lead our country. How sad!!!
The problem is not in their anonimity it is when they become known that it is really bad for them. They have skeletons of ignorance and stupidity hidden away and those are revealed as the Republicants become known.
I bet Sean Hannity learn all about Torture from praticeing it on his kids!!! Why is some sick person Telling people it is ok 2 commit crimes. He should be in prison
Republicians are proving every day thay are sick and they will try to take this country over violently. Rasie awareness. and someone needs 2 make them obey the law. Or they will start forcefully takeing over this country IT IS THEIR WAY OR DEATH. Do you people remember ????????
They can't even admit anyone, but Republicians are Americans, How can you believe they even care about Democracy??? 1 more ? How American is that? They are truely the Modern nazi party
I hear Newt Gingrich likes torture, Why don't all them crazy GOP terroists take over Cuba, Libia or Iraq something. All the GOP is is a bunch of dictators. The people will love them their. They will fit right in! GOP Promotes Human Rights Abuses. Just wacth their shows on FOX they a sick. How do they call themselfs Americans?