From a pollconducted for Politico by Penn Schoen Berland (note: Nate says PSB had mediocre results predicting Congressional races), it is possible to view how the "DC Elites" view various prominent political figures.
The "DC Elites" are not identified, but the ratio of Democrats to Republicans is about 2 to 1, so comparing a Democratic figure to a Republican figure is not quite apples to apples. The poll sample 225 Elites (I'm already starting to hate that word) and there is a margin of error of 6.3%. The word "elites" is how Politico describes these people, and I don't have a better one.
Within the parties, though, the comparisons become more relevant (although one has to assume the DC Elites have their pie fights, too). Results below the fold.
Elite opinions of Democrats.
Person | V Fav | Fav | Unfav | V Unfav | Who? | Don't Know | V Fav minus V Unfav |
---|
H. Clinton | 29 | 45 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 | +22 |
B. Obama | 29 | 37 | 14 | 19 | 1 | 1 | +10 |
J. Biden | 19 | 43 | 19 | 17 | 1 | 1 | +2 |
T. Kaine | 14 | 31 | 21 | 15 | 8 | 10 | neg 1 |
H. Reid | 6 | 29 | 24 | 29 | 7 | 5 | neg 23 |
N. Pelosi | 10 | 30 | 23 | 35 | 1 | 1 | neg 25 |
Hillary is clearly pretty popular inside the Beltway - more so than her boss. This may be because she inspires less GOP dislike since she's not President; or it may be that she's actually more competent. Pelosi and Reid poll in a similar way, although Nancy seems to inspire more strong feelings (or, perhaps, Harry inspires very few feelings at all). Tim Kaine actually has decent poll numbers considering how much abuse he takes on the Great Orange.
Elite opinions of Republicans
Person | V Fav | Fav | Unfav | V Unfav | Who? | Don't Know | V Fav minus V Unfav |
---|
T. Pawlenty | 5 | 18 | 24 | 7 | 27 | 19 | neg 2 |
M. Romney | 8 | 21 | 36 | 25 | 4 | 6 | neg 17 |
H. Barbour | 3 | 14 | 26 | 20 | 20 | 16 | neg 17 |
J. McCain | 5 | 29 | 34 | 28 | 0 | 0 | neg 23 |
M. Huckabee | 5 | 22 | 36 | 28 | 6 | 4 | neg 23 |
M. McConnell | 5 | 13 | 28 | 32 | 12 | 9 | neg 27 |
J. Boehner | 9 | 14 | 20 | 37 | 12 | 8 | neg 28 |
M. Steele | 1 | 11 | 32 | 44 | 8 | 4 | neg 43 |
Dubya | 8 | 18 | 20 | 54 | 0 | 0 | neg 46 |
S. Palin | 5 | 9 | 10 | 74 | 1 | 0 | neg 69 |
A few things stand out here. First, T-Paw has made very few enemies, although half the elites haven't really formed an opinion. He compares pretty well to Haley Barbour, who also is fairly unknown. The Beltway insiders want Pawlenty, Romney, or Barbour (although elsewhere in the poll it indicates they expect Romney). I am surprised at how similar the numbers for Huckabee and McCain are; they don't seem to be traveling the same path either personality-wise or politically.
I find it surprising how many "no opinion" votes McConnell and Boehner received. It is not as though political elites have no information on these men.
Michael Steele is viewed more favorably than George W. Bush, two years after the election and while Steele's incompetence is fresh in everyone's mind. Future historians are going to look at this poll and shake their heads in wonder. Even if every Democrat polled dislikes Bush, it still takes some negative action from Republicans to produce those numbers. So just to remind everyone: Bush was a lousy President by comparison to every other President since Harding.
And the Beltway elites will crawl over broken glass while eating worms to stop Sarah Palin from becoming President. She's less popular than acne at a prom. This poll, BTW, was taken before The Sarah decided that the proper response to a horrible violent crime was to pity The Sarah. One aardvark's opinion: she won't even run for President. She's done.