Republicans appear to be unenthusiastic about the Republican presidential candidates in the race for the White House or considering a run, according to a new Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll.
Thirty-seven percent offered a negative descriptor when asked to describe their overall impression of the Republican field in a single word. Just 22 percent described the field with a positive word. Eighteen percent used neutral term, and 23 percent said they had no opinion.
In the survey of 1,000 adults, the most oft mentioned term was “not impressed/unimpressed,” which was mentioned 42 times by respondents, both Democrats and Republicans. The next most common descriptors were “disappointed/disappointing,” and “weak,” which were mentioned 21 times each.
Other terms that got more than 10 mentions include “good,” “incompetent/incapable,” “pathetic,” “not interested,” “unqualified/not qualified,” “idiots,” “poor,” “confused/confusing/confusion,” “hopeful,” “interesting,” and “mediocre.”
While more Democrats than Republicans used the term “not impressed/unimpressed,” more Republicans said they were “disappointed.” However, with the exception of “confused/confusing/confusion” and “weak,” the negative terms mentioned more than 10 times were mostly mentioned by Democrats.
The list should be encouraging to would-be newcomers to the race. Of the just under 60 percent of Republicans who have an opinion of the field, most have a negative opinion.
The remaining 41 percent of respondents were either neutral or had no opinion, which would corroborate with anecdotal evidence and polling data that suggests that no candidate has really made a significant splash among Republican voters.