Name a candidate, any one -- most name Clinton

by Mark Silva

Quick, pick a name of someone running for president.

Got it?

If you said Hillary Clinton, you're like 78 percent of all people who can name the senator from New York without prompting when asked about the 2008 presidential field.

If you said Barack Obama, you're like 62 percent of the people who can name the Illinois senator without prompting.

But if you said Rudy Giuliani, you're like just 45 percent of the public who can name the former mayor of New York as a candidate for president without prompting.

The '08 campaign may have started much earlier than contests normally begin, "but public interest in the campaign is at most only modestly higher than in previous campaigns,'' the Pew Research Center reports. "While Democrats are following the campaign more closely than at the same stage in previous primary contests,'' Pew finds, "Republicans are no more engaged than in the past, resulting in a sizable partisan gap in campaign interest.

"The Republicans’ disengagement, if not disillusionment, with the campaign is borne out by the fact that many more Republicans are able to recall unprompted the names of Democratic frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama than can name Rudy Giuliani and other leading GOP candidates,'' Pew reports.

While 81 percent of the public surveyed can name a Democratic candidate unprompted -- 78 percent volunteering Clinton, and 62 percent Obama -- by contrast, just 59 percent can name any Republican candidate. Giuliani is the best known, with 45 percent of the public naming him.

"Among Republicans, Clinton and Obama are much more visible than Giuliani or any other GOP presidential candidate,'' Pew notes. "When asked to name any Democratic presidential candidate, 79 percent of Republicans named Clinton and 60 percentmentioned Obama. Asked for the name of a GOP candidate, 57 percent of Republicans named Giuliani. No other Republican candidate was mentioned by even half of Republicans'' surveyed.

Pew’s weekly "News Interest Index'' finds that since the beginning of September, 20 percent of the public, on average, has followed campaign news very closely, while 52 percent have followed it very or fairly closely. Interest was nearly as great at this point in the 2000 campaign, the last time that both parties had competitive contests for presidential nominations (52 percent now vs. 49 percent then).

Pew also reports: "While campaign interest has fluctuated from week to week, overall interest in the fall (September to mid-October) is no higher than it was during the first three months of this year (52 percent very/fairly closely from January-March).

:As was the case earlier this year, fewer Republicans than Democrats say they are following news about the campaign. Since the beginning of September, 62 percent of Democrats, on average, have followed campaign news very or fairly closely; that compares with 52 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of independents.

See the full report, here.