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American voters hardly know Trump's choice for VP: Gallup poll

Xinhua, July 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday announced Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, but voters hardly know Pence, found a Gallup poll on Monday.

More than six in 10 voters either have no opinion (18 percent) on Pence or have never heard of him (44 percent), according to the poll.

One of the jobs of a running mate is to help the presidential nominee fire up his political base, and it appears that Pence has yet to achieve that, as the poll found that only 37 percent of voters call him an "excellent" choice for vice president.

This rating falls short of the 39 percent rating of former Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, now the House Speaker, in 2012.

Roughly three in four registered voters claim that having Pence on the ticket will not influence their likelihood of voting for Trump for president. This is typical, as Gallup finds that usually the majority of voters say this about the vice presidential selection in every election.

At the same time, 10 percent to 14 percent of voters say Pence makes them more likely to support Trump in November rather than less likely, Gallup found.

Still, this is also typical, although this minimal positive tilt is one of the weaker ones of the past eight elections, Gallup found.

Pence has yet to accomplish another important job -- helping to patch one of the nominee's image weaknesses. In Trump's case, that includes a perceived lack of experience needed to be president, Gallup found.

By 46 percent to 33 percent, more voters say Pence is qualified to serve as president should it become necessary, Gallup found.

These views may reflect voters' awareness that Pence is a governor and has at least earned Trump's confidence.

However, with 22 percent of voters expressing no opinion on Pence's qualifications, there is room for change on this front as the campaign continues. In selecting Pence as his running mate, Trump seems to have neither scored a home run nor struck out, Gallup said. Enditem