Jonathan Singer points to a new poll that shows why the Republican tactic of tying Democratic challengers for the House to Minority Leader Nanci Pelosi isn’t working:
The Quinnipiac survey shows that a 53 percent majority of Americans aren’t familiar enough with Pelosi to form an opinion about her, the same amount as are unfamiliar with Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist. Close to two-thirds of Americans (65 percent) don’t know much about Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid while no numbers were available for either House Speaker Denny Hastert or House Republican Leader John Boehner.
These numbers are high but the overall trend doesn’t surprise me. Aside from political junkies, most Americans just don’t pay particularly close attention to American politics. The Congress simply has too many key figures in it to easily follow; that’s one reason presidents are so dominant despite much less Constitutional power.
While the prospect of Majority Leader Pelosi may be frightening to hard core Republicans, it’s meaningless to most Americans. And even more so to people who are simultaneously voters and not already strongly predisposed toward one party. The GOP would be better served emphasizing known, scary Democrats (Teddy Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Barney Frank, and the like) who would assume important committee chairs.
Note: This particular survey was of registered voters. Presumably, likely voters would have somewhat better cognizance of the major Congressional leaders.
