GOP Voters Not Thrilled With Candidates

The primary season is now officially underway, but if polls are to be believed the Republican voters are less than thrilled with their choice of candidates. A CBS News Poll, done between January 4th and 8th, shows that only 37% of Republicans say they are satisfied with the field of presidential candidates they are currently being offered. A full 58% are dissatisfied and would like some different choices. In addition, the poll shows that only 28% of Republican voters have made a choice about who they will vote for, and only 20% say they strongly favor the choice they have made.

A different poll shows a little better number, but still shows a lot of Republicans aren't happy with the presidential field. The Pew Research Center survey shows that only 51% of Republicans think the candidates currently running represent a good or excellent field of candidates. About 44% say the field is fair or poor. That's sort of like damning the field with "faint praise".

These kind of poor numbers make me wonder if the Republicans will turn out in large enough numbers in November to support their eventual nominee -- especially if the candidate is Romney, who the teabaggers just don't trust. Back in 2008, a year in which the GOP candidate was soundly trounced, a full 68% of Republicans thought their field of candidates at this point in the race was good or excellent. That's a full 17 points higher than for this year.

It looks like the Republicans know they are nominating a very weak candidate this year, and I believe they are right.