Posted by David Lightman at 7:23 am CST
Name recognition is what's driving a lot of the early 2008 presidential election polling.
Just ask Chris Dodd, the Democratic senator from Connecticut whose name was recognized by just one or two -- people, not percentage points -- in a recent survey.
For more on the name game, see the Courant's story:
Dodd's Showing In Polls Laughable
At Least Comedians Have Noticed It
By DAVID LIGHTMAN
Washington Bureau Chief
January 31 2007
WASHINGTON -- When pollster John Zogby asked a group of 339 likely Democratic voters earlier this month whom they wanted for president in 2008, one or two mentioned Connecticut's senior senator.
One or 2 percent mentioned Christopher Dodd?
No. One or two people, Zogby said.
"I'm competing with the margin of error in most polls," Chris Dodd grinned as he described his underdog status recently to a New Hampshire audience.
He should be so lucky. The margin of error was 5.4 percentage points.
In the Zogby America poll, Dodd registered as a hyphen - a placeholder indicating he polled at less than 1 percent.
Even 2004 candidate Joe Lieberman, who is not running this year, got 2 percent of likely voters saying they favored him.
Of course, that survey was taken the week before Jan. 11, when Dodd formally announced his intention to run. Surely he'd get a boost from his national shout-out on "Imus in the Morning" and his round of national network interviews.
Yup. He has soared to 1 percent, according to the Time Poll, the Opinion Research Corporation/CNN poll and Gallup. The ABC News/Washington Post survey, alas, still only rates him a hyphen.
Does it make a difference if another New England candidate drops out? No. Take out Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, who said last week he's not running, and Dodd is still at 1 percent in the CNN poll.
Experts agree: Dodd is still far from margin-of-error territory, and even further from Hillary Rodham Clinton and her big, fat 30 to 40 percent.
Sure, a lot of this is name recognition, but so what? "That's what campaigns are all about," said Jeffrey Resnick, president of Opinion Research USA.
Dodd finished between 10th and 12th in the polls, behind non-candidates like retired Gen. Wesley Clark and the Rev. Al Sharpton, usually tied with Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich or former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.
So is being mired in those depths a laughing matter?
Yes, say the comedians. They're noticing Dodd.
Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" last week rattled off front-runners in the Democratic field, noting they include the first African-American, first woman, first Latino and so on.
Then a picture of Dodd appeared over Stewart's shoulder. "I left out Sen. Christopher Dodd," he said. Stewart said nothing more, just stared straight ahead and got a big laugh.
Maybe it was Jay Leno, though, who summed up Dodd's current problems cracking the top 10.
"Dodd said over the past few weeks he's been having a conversation with the mirror about running," the comedian cracked. "The bad news? Today, the guy in the mirror came out in favor of Barack Obama."
David Lightman is Washington Bureau chief for the Hartford Courant, a Tribune Co. newspaper.
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Comments
We've had how many Lightman articles about Dodd? More than all the Republican candidates combined. And yet this Democrat is running at 1%.
Posted by: Bruce | January 31, 2007 8:08 AM
Chris Dodd is an intellegent and good Senator, but that's where it ends.
Brucie, you can find more on the Repub nominess @ we'resuretobelosers.com.
Posted by: Raving Loon | January 31, 2007 8:51 AM
The sound of no hands clapping;
'--'
Posted by: C.Morris | January 31, 2007 8:13 PM
David,
Was the Kucenisch campaign taken and you got stuck with Dodd?
Posted by: Terry | January 31, 2007 10:30 PM
Newspapers and television "news" shows only give decent or sufficient coverage of
the most well-financed candidates or the ones journalists consider the
best-story candidates. As an Iowan who has heard every one of the Democratic candidates in person on numerous occasions, I look beyond that cheap measure of a candidate and exercise my independence to thoughtfully and, hopefully, intelligently consider each candidate's character, positions, as well as the sub-text (electability, presidentical characteristics needed for this particilar election; typical politician-practices exhibited, etc)to determine who I think the best person for job of president will be. After all of my research and paying attention to candidates, CHRISTOPHER DODD is my thoughtful choice
> for President and I WILL caucus for him on January 3rd with the rest of my adult family.
P.S. Like many citizens in Iowa who are inundated with these calls, I don't answer unknown phone calls, so not one pollster has logged my CAUCUS FOR DODD intention.
Dodd is a serious candidate. Serious citizens will consider him. Serious writers should quit "phoning it in" and write serious articles about each candidate so the people truly have an INFORMED choice and not one informed only by the drek some writers & TV talking-heads dish out.
Chris Dodd is an incredibly intelligent man, thoughtful, knowledgeable,
> well-spoken, with a great resume of experience. He's respectful, a good
> listener--- and my sense is that he's an honorable man. I have heard him
> speak at three different visits here in Burlington,Iowa as well as at Iowa's
> Harkin Steak Fry, AARP Presidential debate and the Jefferson Jackson
> dinner in Des Moines. I've observed how comfortable Senator Dodd is
> answering questions in depth and detail that are asked of him in these
> campaign stops. A TV cameraman covering this last VFW stop in Burlington
> was heard to express amazement at the amount of knowledge Dodd is able to
> communicate in answering every question thrown at him. It is obvious how
> passionate Dodd is about our Constitution and he has carried a small
> copy around in his pocket for the last 25 YEARS as a reminder to him of
> how important it is to all Americans. He's a family man with values
> like most Iowans have----love of his family, a belief in the importance
> of education, and a strong work ethic. Senator Chris Dodd wrote the Family Medical Leave Act----which was a lifesaver for a young single mother I know who needed extended time away from her job to obtain medical treatment for cancer yet needed to keep her job to support her children and maintain insurance. It was Senator Dodd who also shepherded this important national legislation through Congress over seven years and who obtained bipartisan support for it so that it
could become law. Dodd has been endorsed by the International Association of Firefighters because of all his support for firefighters over the years---long before 9/11. He authored the first federal law to help towns and cities hire, equip, and train firefighters and other emergency responders and he authored the Help America Vote Act, a very
mportant voting rights piece of legislation. Senator Dodd is the senior
member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a recognized expert
> on Latin and South America. He's well-respected on both sides of the
aisle in the Senate and has been able to secure Republican co-sponsors for
many of his bills, which have become legislation that has impacted all of
our lives.
In this era of divisiveness in our country, gridlock in Congress, and disrespect from other countries toward the U.S., how nice would it be to elect a president who the rest of the world will respect and who cares
passionately about accomplishing things for US citizens like getting us
out of Iraq, improving our children's education, preserving Social
Security and restoring our Constitution, among others.
Posted by: Deb Bowen | November 18, 2007 12:42 PM