Who Leads the GOP?

Two years removed from the previous presidential election and two years before the next, the Republican Party is left without a clear leader. When asked to name the leader of the GOP, seven-in-ten Americans say they don’t know (52%) or volunteer “nobody” (18%). Of the 29% of Americans who doname someone as the leader of the Republican Party, John McCain continues to be chosen more frequently than any other leader, though only 8% of Americans cite him. Even fewer choose Sarah Palin (4%), Mitt Romney (3%), Rush Limbaugh (2%) and Newt Gingrich (2%) as the leader of the GOP. More Republicans name a leader of their party (36%) than the public overall, but still most say they don’t know (46%) or that no one leads the party (17%). Among all Republicans, McCain is also the most cited leader of the GOP (11%), but among conservative Republicans, Romney’s name (8%) comes up almost as often as McCain’s (9%), with Palin (6%) and Gingrich (5%) not far behind. Limbaugh is named the leader of the GOP by 8% of liberal Democrats. Read More