In the absence of anything resembling real news (much less fresh facts) about John McCain’s decision about a running mate, here’s some fresh entrail-reading, courtesy of the Rasmussen Reports polling firm.

In what amounts to little more than a national name-recognition pop quiz of the 1,000 likely voters the company surveyed, it turns out that Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s north of zero, but just barely.

As Rasmussen puts it:

The names most frequently in circulation these days are former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who challenged McCain for the GOP presidential nomination, and two sitting governors, Charlie Crist of Florida and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.

But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that the two possible Republican running mates with the highest favorable ratings among voters – Mike Huckabee and Joseph Lieberman — are not even on most of the short lists currently being discussed.

What the numbers also suggest, given the high percentages of “not sure” responses, is that many voters are not even aware of most of the possible vice presidential candidates. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters, for example, were unsure what their view of Pawlenty is; 47% say the same of Crist.

(…snip)

In the new survey, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, rates highest, with nearly half of voters (47%) saying they view him at least somewhat favorably. Fifteen percent (15%) rate their opinion of him as Very Favorable. Huckabee is seen at least somewhat unfavorably by 39%. Huckabee, like Romney, ran against McCain in the spring GOP primaries.

Lieberman, a sitting “independent” Democratic senator who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, is seen at least somewhat favorably by 46%, with 10% rating their view of him Very Favorable. Again, 39% have at least a somewhat unfavorable view of Lieberman.

But all is not lost for the guv’s prospects. A futures market operated separately by Rasmussen finds that he’s still in the thick of things: “On Monday morning, Pawlenty is doing better in the Rasmussen Markets and is given a 34.9% chance of being McCain’s choice. But Romney is still slightly ahead at 36.5% and Crist and Palin tied for third with 13%.”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 4:34 pm and is filed under John McCain, Main, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Tim Pawlenty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.