Poll: Most don't know who speaks for GOP

[babylonsister]

:nopity:

Poll: Most don't know who speaks for GOP

By Susan Page, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — Republicans, out of power and divided over how to get it back, are finding even the most basic questions hard to answer.

Here's one: Who speaks for the GOP?

The question flummoxes most Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, which is among the reasons for the party's sagging state and uncertain direction.

A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn't come up with a name when asked to specify "the main person" who speaks for Republicans today. Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%), followed in order by former vice president Dick Cheney, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Former president George W. Bush ranked fifth, at 3%.

So the dominant faces of the Republican Party are all men, all white, all conservative and all old enough to join AARP, ranging in age from 58 (Limbaugh) to 72 (McCain). They include some of the country's most strident voices on issues from Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court to President Obama's policies at home and abroad. Two are retired from politics, and one has never been a candidate.


more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-09-poll-parties_N.htm

[seafan]

1. Rush, Newt and Dick. Keep it up, boys.

Mark Silva writes today from The Swamp:

Republicans appear leaderless.

Asked to identify the spokesman for their party, nearly half of all Republicans surveyed either cannot name one or say there is none.

Radio's Rush Limbaugh, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are named most often by those who do name "the main person who speaks for the Republican Party today.''

But even they are named by few: 10 percent each name Limbaugh or Gingrich, and 9 percent name Cheney - a reflection, perhaps, that their names have been in the news a lot lately, doing a lot of talking about the party and the Democratic president.

.....

The numbers come from an open-ended survey in the May 29-31 USA Today/Gallup Poll.

"It comes as the Republican Party is attempting to regroup after losing last November's presidential election, and is looking for ways to reorganize and strengthen in time for the 2010 midterm elections,'' Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, reports today.

The GOP's 2008 nominee for president is named by just 6 percent of the Republicans surveyed as the main spokesman for the Republican Party today. The party chairman, Michael Steele, is named by just 2 percent. The leaders of the party in Congress barely register.

More, 17 percent of all Republicans surveyed, say no one speaks for the party, and 29 percent have no opinion on the subject.

The numbers "underscore the leadership vacuum that confronts the Republican Party today,'' Newport suggests. "Almost half of those who identify with or lean toward the GOP cannot think of a single political or other figure when asked to name the main person who speaks for their party...

"Perhaps most importantly, none of these is mentioned by more than 10% of Republicans, a telling indication that rank-and-file Republicans today simply have no single consensus leader around whom they can gather their forces,'' Newport notes.

"Most pundits and political observers already have a list of possible candidates who could end up battling for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination -- including (in addition to Gingrich) Sarah Palin, Romney, Mike Huckabee, Charlie Crist, and Jeb Bush,'' he reports. " Gingrich is the only one on this list who is mentioned by more than 2 percent of Republicans as the person who -- at this point in time -- speaks for their party.''

The survey of 1,015 adults carries a possible margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Keep digging, you creeps.

[bdamomma]

4. and don't forget Palin, but they don't let her talk.

[TlalocW]

5. That's why Newt is trying to make a comeback now

The party is in disarray and a power vacuum in leadership roles, that he's hoping he can fill. It's the only way he can put himself on the national scene again, and his only shot to run for president.

TlalocW

[Cresent City Kid]

2. The ensmallening of the GOP embiggens us all

If they want to purge moderation, and become a party of true believers, let 'em. Outnumbered means out of power.

[C_U_L8R]

3. They've got plenty of loud mouths...

they just don't have a single positive thing to say.

[votingupstart]

6. until they get the old guard out of the way they will remain divided

sorry - no pity