One of the hottest topics in Washington these days surrounds the prospect that the Republicans could blow the 2012 election and President Obama, despite his unpopularity, could be headed toward re-election.
A Washington Post poll released earlier this week was compared with an identical survey conducted four years ago, in April 2007, when more Republican voters said they were satisfied with the GOP presidential field than dissatisfied. The margin was substantial – 65 percent to 32 percent.
The new Post poll finds a very different atmosphere, with 43 percent of GOP voters satisfied with their potential pool of candidates and 40 percent dissatisfied.
Twice as many are “very” dissatisfied compared to four years ago, while only one-third as many are “very” satisfied compared to 2007.
A new CBS/New York Times poll released this morning has even more bad news for all those Republicans who have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to oust Obama. Enthusiasm for the likely candidates is extraordinarily low.
When self-described Republicans were asked whom they were most enthusiastic about, Mike Huckabee was the second-most-mentioned candidate after Mitt Romney. But the percentages were small: 8 percent named Huckabee, 9 percent named Romney. And a surprising 57 percent could not name anyone.
The GOP’s new darling, Donald Trump, could prove to be an albatross for the party if he continues to toy with the media. Some 60 percent of Republicans surveyed said they did not believe The Donald was a serious candidate. Among voters of all stripes who were polled, 46 percent viewed him unfavorably compared to 25 percent who have a favorable opinion of the real estate mogul.
Sarah Palin, the former GOP darling, has numbers that are even worse – 26 percent favorable, 55
Percent unfavorable.
As for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who pulled off a mini-surge in March, many political junkies of the Republican persuasion would be stunned to learn that the poll found that 75 percent of GOP voters said they didn’t know enough about her to form an opinion.
One other thing: despite the stagnant economy and widespread displeasure with the president’s handling of economic issues, the matchups offered to participants CBS/Times poll found that Obama would beat every Republican candidate.
The Times, however, offers this astute caution:
“How well a candidate is known at this stage of a campaign is not necessarily a reflection of where they will stand when the race engages in earnest. For instance, at this point four years ago, 77 percent of Republicans surveyed by The New York Times and CBS News said they did not know enough about Romney to form an opinion of him. Yet he was one of the better-known candidates by the time he dropped out in February 2008.
“And the best-known and best-liked candidate at the time of that poll — taken in March 2007 — was former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York, whose campaign ultimately fizzled.”
