So predicts Scott Reid, one of many leaders of the supercomputer Good America. And he is clearly half proper: folks know Mike Pence. The issue is that individuals – particularly Republicans – are unlikely to be satisfied that what they learn about him is incomplete or unsuitable.
Throughout his tenure within the Trump administration, folks have steadily come to know Pence extra carefully. A YouGov ballot exhibits that by 2020, solely about 4-5 p.c of the nation’s inhabitants had no opinion of him. That quantity has elevated barely since he left authorities, with about 7 p.c of the nation’s inhabitants now saying they do not know sufficient to type an opinion.
Amongst Republicans, nonetheless, familiarity was persistently increased. At one level simply earlier than the 2020 election, just one p.c of Republicans mentioned they did not know sufficient about Pence to type an opinion about him. Since 2021, Republican consciousness has been barely decrease when in comparison with most of the people.
Nonetheless, it is nice that greater than 90 p.c of the nation’s inhabitants has an opinion about you. Examine that to Donald Trump when he introduced his candidacy in June 2015. Regardless of Trump being a TV host and movie star, nearly 1 / 4 of Individuals had no opinion on whether or not they seen him favorably.
So what do folks consider Pence? Properly, for many of his time in workplace, Republicans usually handled him favorably. From January 2017 to December 2020, his common web favor — the share of those that seen him positively, minus those that did not — was plus 75 for Republicans. His total web favorability declined throughout this era on account of rising destructive assessments from Democrats.
After which Jan. occurred 6.
In 5 polls taken within the weeks following the assault on the Capitol, Pence’s total web favor was -9 minus, barely decrease than two months prior. Amongst Republicans, it fell from plus-80 to plus-60.
Recently issues have been getting worse for Pence. That is partly on account of an impact Reed needs to offset: Trump has repeatedly criticized him to Republicans as the previous president tries to persuade folks he deserves to remain in energy. However the reality stays that Pence’s common web favor for the Republicans was +32 final yr. (The Democrats had a a lot better-than-usual minus 46, however that will not do him a lot good in both the 2024 Republican main or the final election.)
You possibly can see the issue for Pence within the chart under. Instantly after Jan. 6, Pence was seen negatively by a median of 16 p.c of Republicans. Final yr the typical was 30 p.c.
And, once more, that is even if greater than 90 p.c of Republicans have an concept about him.
Is it attainable that Pence’s relentless give attention to conservative conscientiousness might scale back these unfavorable numbers? Actually. However then we come to the following a part of Reid’s quote.
“… as an individual who is just not a vp, however as a real conservative within the area of economics, social safety and nationwide safety – a Reagan conservative.”
The concept appears to be to place Pence as a pre-Trump Republican. The rationale Trump gained, after all, was as a result of he didn’t have Republican kind. He introduced Pence with him partly as a result of he needed the credibility of the a part of the citizens who nonetheless needed such politicians (and due to Pence’s ties to the non secular proper). However then Trump reshaped the get together round him and pushed the pre-Trump-style Republican even decrease.
It is totally attainable that Pence will finally resolve to not run and that the super-PAC will merely display a time-honored custom of elevating big quantities of cash, which is then spent on adverts and consultants. It is usually attainable that Pence is working and this publicity might be used to assist his efforts to win the nomination.
I consider it is also attainable that Pence will win the nomination. If that is the case, then Reed and his allies might be past my restricted creativeness that I can think about for the time being.
