Trump's VP pick more favored than Clinton's: poll

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's Vice Presidential running mate Mike Pence has a more positive image than Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's VP choice Tim Kaine, a latest Gallup poll has found.

Pence is much better known across the United States as his image has grown significantly more positive over this time than Kaine's. As of now, Republicans are embracing Pence more than Democrats are embracing Kaine, according to the poll.

Both Pence's favorable and unfavorable ratings have risen, while the percentage of those who have never heard of him has dropped from 65 percent before last month's National Republican Convention to 39 percent. His favorable rating has gone up more than his unfavorable rating, Gallup found.

The Indiana governor received some nationwide media attention last year for signing a "religious freedom" law that the gay and lesbian community of that U.S. state sharply criticized, and was facing a difficult gubernatorial re-election campaign before Trump chose him as running mate, Gallup found.

Trump has grabbed many negative headlines since the conventions, including his pronouncements about the Muslim family whose Army captain son was killed in Iraq, the tensions between him and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, and whether nuclear weapons can or should be used.

The conciliatory statements made by Pencee may be seen as an attempt to assuage the situation, by sympathizing with the soldier's family. Yet, while Trump's statements have not helped his own favorable ratings, Pence has gained substantially in net favorability, Gallup said.

Pence is now better known and liked across key subgroups than he was before the Republican convention. Sixty-four percent of Republicans have a favorable impression of Pence, up from 40 percent in mid-July. He has risen to 33 percent favorability among independents and even has a 17 percent score among Democrats, up from a paltry 5 percent in July.

Americans'overall image of Clinton's VP choice Kaine has become somewhat more negative since the beginning of the Democratic convention, Gallup said.

The U.S. senator from Virginia has a favorable rating of 33 percent, up from 24 percent before the convention. But his unfavorable rating has increased from 14 percent to 30 percent.

In the next three months, the American people will continue to form opinions of Kaine and Pence, and their images may be affected by the forthcoming vice presidential debate on Oct. 4 at Longwood University in Virginia, Gallup said. Enditem