House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former Vice President Dick Cheney (R) are viewed very similarly by Americans, according to a poll released Friday.
The Gallup poll found that Pelosi and Cheney share nearly identical favorable/unfavorable numbers. Pelosi was viewed unfavorably by 50 percent of respondents; Cheney was viewed unfavorably by 54 percent.
Thirty-four percent viewed Pelosi favorably. A slightly high percentage, 37 percent, viewed Cheney favorably.
Republicans out there will undoubtedly rejoice at this news. In recent weeks, Cheney has been an extremely vocal spokesman for the GOP on national security issues. Those efforts came to a head on May 21 when he went head-to-head with President Obama in speeches on the topic. And these numbers suggest Cheney’s public image is benefiting from that exposure.
Republicans have also sought to back Pelosi into a corner over her explanation of whether she learned of, and, according to Republicans, therefore was complicit in, U.S. waterboarding in a 2003 briefing when she was the ranking member of the House intelligence committee. Pelosi has said the Central Intelligence Agency lied to her about whether waterboarding has being used.
Interestingly, Pelosi’s favorability numbers have spiraled downward while Cheney’s have risen since President Obama took office in January, though more people continue to view Cheney unfavorably than favorably.
Check out these charts.
Cheney and Pelosi continued to be viewed favorably by their respective parties and unfavorably by their opposing parties. As Gallup notes: “As a result of the changes, both Cheney and Pelosi are now positioned as highly polarizing figures on the political landscape.”
There was a margin of error of plus or minus three percent in the poll.