A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds Americans are divided over Mitt Romney's selection of Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice-presidential running mate, but that favorable opinion of Mr. Ryan rose after the announcement was made.
Still, a sizable number of Americans have no impression of Mr. Ryan. A poll taken Sunday by Gallup/USA Today also finds division, with 42 percent of Americans viewing the choice of Mr. Ryan as “fair†or “poor†and 39 percent viewing it as an “excellent†or “pretty good†pick.
According to the Post/ABC News poll, 38 percent of Americans viewed Mr. Ryan favorably after the announcement, up from 23 percent who said so just a few days earlier. The survey was based on two national samples of voters, with 667 interviews conducted by landline and cellphone Wednesday through Friday, before Mr. Romney announced his decision publicly, and 522 interviews conducte d Saturday and Sunday, after the disclosure.
After the announcement, a third of Americans viewed Mr. Ryan unfavorably, no difference from earlier. Three in 10 Americans had no opinion, down from 45 percent.
Among Republicans, 62 percent had a favorable impression of him after the announcement, up from 48 percent before the announcement. And 46 percent of seniors viewed Mr. Ryan favorably, up from 28 percent. However, more than a quarter of seniors are undecided about him, and increased discussion of his proposals for revamping Medicare in the coming days may likely have an impact on their views.
In looking back at historical polls after recent Republican vice-presidential announcements, Mr. Ryan rated lower than Dick Cheney in 2000 (Gallup found 55 percent of Americans thought him to be an “excellent†or “pretty good choiceâ€), and about the same as Sarah Palin in 2008 (46 percent had a positive reaction).
The Gall up/USA Today poll also found nearly half of Americans viewed Mr. Ryan as qualified for the presidency should something happen to Mr. Romney, while about 3 in 10 did not, and nearly a quarter were undecided.
The margin of sampling error for the earlier Post/ABC News poll was plus or minus five percentage points, and for the latter poll it was plus or minus six percentage points. Gallup/USA Today interviewed 1,006 adults by telephone on Sunday, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. In addition, polls conducted entirely in one night introduce additional error.
