Poll Watch: Rasmussen (R) 2012 Vice Presidential Favorability Survey

Rasmussen (R) 2012 VP Favorability Poll 

I’m now going to read you a short list of people in the news. For each, please let me know if you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable impression. 

Marco Rubio

• Very favorable 22% (20%)
• Somewhat favorable 20% (15%)
• Somewhat unfavorable 20% (16%)
• Very unfavorable 11% (12%)
• No opinion 28% (37%)

Scott Walker

• Very favorable 20%
• Somewhat favorable 17%
• Somewhat unfavorable 13%
• Very unfavorable 17%
• No opinion 33%

Susana Martinez

• Very favorable 3% [5%]
• Somewhat favorable 19% [14%]
• Somewhat unfavorable 15% [14%]
• Very unfavorable 8% [9%]
• No opinion 54% [57%]
  

Rob Portman

• Very favorable 3% (2%)
• Somewhat favorable 20% (12%)
• Somewhat unfavorable 23% (15%)
• Very unfavorable 8% (11%)
• No opinion 47% (60%)
  

Brian Sandoval

• Very favorable 1%
• Somewhat favorable 17%
• Somewhat unfavorable 19%
• Very unfavorable 7%
• No opinion 56%

Favorable / Unfavorable {Net}

• Marco Rubio 42% (35%) / 31% (28%) {+11%}
• Scott Walker 37% / 30% {+7%}
• Susana Martinez 22% [19%] / 23% [23%] {-1%}
• Rob Portman 23% (14%) / 31% (26%) {-8%}
• Brian Sandoval 18% / 26% {-8%}

National survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted June 19-20, 2012. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points. Results from the poll conducted April 24-25, 2012 are in square brackets.  Results from the poll conducted April 10-11, 2012 are in parentheses.

Inside the numbers:

Unchanged from the previous survey are the 62% of Republicans who regard Marco Rubio favorably. Just 18% of Democrats now have a favorable opinion of Rubio, but that’s up from 11% in April. But perhaps most tellingly, he is viewed favorably by 43% of voters not affiliated with either major party, a 13-point increase from 30% two months ago. His unfavorables among these voters are essentially the same at 26%.

Sizable numbers of GOP voters (22%), Democrats (32%) and unaffiliateds (29%) still don’t know enough about Rubio to voice any kind of opinion of him.

Walker is especially popular among conservative voters and unpopular among liberals because of his successful move to strip some collective bargaining rights from public employee unions to help cut his state’s budget deficit. Not surprisingly, 57% of Republicans view Walker favorably, compared to just 13% of Democrats. Among unaffiliated voters, he earns favorables of 38% and unfavorables of 30%, with 32% undecided.