Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is top choice as Mitt Romney’s running mate according to a new CNN poll – even though she’s adamant she is not interested in the job.
Rice topped former candidate Rick Santorum by 26 to 22 percent in the survey among likely Republican voters released Wednesday, with all those who are considered serious candidates for the job trailing well behind both.
A second poll on the subject by Quinnipiac University found New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie topping the vice-presidential wishlist, but that did not include either Rice or Santorum as options.
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The surprise CNN result is all down to name recognition, explained the station’s Polling Director Keating Holland. "Rice and Santorum are best known and they top the overall wish list."
When it comes down to politicians who are generally considered likely to be considered by the Romney camp, Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tie at 14 percent, followed by House Budget Committee chairman, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan on 8 percent; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on 5 and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on 1.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who has quietly risen to top many pundits’ lists scores less than one half of one percent in the poll conducted for CNN by Opinion Research.
When CBS’ Norah O'Donnell asked Rice in October if she would accept an approach by the Republican nominee, she replied. “I have done my time. I’m sure there will be some very fine vice-presidential candidates, I’m not one of them."
When pressed, she added, “When you’ve been Secretary of State of the United States you have been enormously fortunate, you shouldn’t try a second time around. I’m ruling it out, I am not someone who should be in politics.”
Santorum is also considered a very unlikely choice because of the bitterness of his attacks on Romney during the primaries.
In The Quininipiac poll, conducted among a sample of voters of all views, 31 percent thought Christie would be a good choice as running mate. Behind him came Rubio on 24 percent, Ryan on 23; Jindal on 18; New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on 14; McDonnell on 10; and once again Portman was bottom of the list on 8 percent.
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But in all cases, far more respondents said they had no opinion of the candidates rather than if they would be good or bad at the job. Christie had the lowest "no opinion" rating at 49 percent while nearly four out of every five – 79 percent – had no view on Portman.
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