The Continued GOP Voter Apathy Towards GOP Candidate Field

I guess I'm not the only one who thinks the GOP presidential candidate field is pathetic. A new poll shows that 44 percent of GOP voters say that the field is fair or poor. A bare majority sees the field as good or excellent. Not surprisingly, the most untethered from reality segment of the GOP base views the field positively. Shockingly, independent voters are more kind in their view of the GOP candidates than actual GOP moderates and liberals (liberals, of course being a relative term). Politico looks at the poll results. Here are highlights:

Republican voters are still just not that into their presidential options. More than four out of 10, or 44 percent, said the field is fair or poor, while 51 percent of Republican and GOP-leaning voters said the candidates are excellent or good, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Monday.

Conservative Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are more positive about the field than moderates or liberals, with 56 percent saying the candidates are excellent or good compared with 43 percent.

Four years ago, 68 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters said they had good Republican candidates to choose from.

Among tea party supporters, 26 percent favor Romney, while Santorum and Gingrich each draw 24 percent. For those who said they do not align with the tea party movement, 29 percent support Romney, 14 percent are for Santorum and 13 percent said they like Gingrich.

Interestingly, a piece in the New Yorker blames the poor candidate field and some of the resulting apathy on the Chimperator, George W. Bush. Here is that analysis:

The 2012 Republican race has largely been shaped by the Republicans who declined to run. Mitt Romney has run a very smart and competent campaign, but he has also been unusually fortunate in that his competition over the last year has been almost comically inept. Here are the people conservatives can blame if Romney ends up winning.

1. George W. Bush

More than anyone else Bush is responsible for decimating the ranks of qualified Republicans who could take on Obama. A successful Presidency can produce a new crop of future Presidential candidates for the party that controls the White House. The vice president and cabinet officials, as well as governors and senators elected over the course of the administration, are historically major sources for a party’s next round of candidates. The Bush years had the opposite effect. It was unthinkable that his vice president would run for higher office and much of his cabinet left Washington tainted by the President’s unpopularity. Moreover, Bush helped sink his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections, thus depleting the ranks of potential Republican candidates for 2012.

The Republican Party rebounded in 2010, but it will take longer than two years for many Presidential-caliber candidates to emerge after the wreckage of the late Bush years.