Only 63% of GOP Voters Now Say Party has no clear Leader

As the old political saying goes, you can’t beat somebody with nobody. But a plurality of national Republican voters still think nobody’s running the show for the GOP.
Still, it’s better than two months ago when 68% of Republican voters said the party had no clear leader.

Now only 37% of GOP voters feel that way.

Arizona Senator John McCain , last year’s unsuccessful presidential candidate who is already facing a primary challenge in 2010, is seen as the party’s leader by 18% of Republican voters.
National party chairman Michael Steele, who has been plagued with gaffes since taking the job, is next with 14% support. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, is seen as the GOP leader by 10%.

McCain and Steele were the top vote getters in March, with five percent (5%) each.
Next for Republican voters now is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, another presidential hopeful from last year, who has eight percent (8%) support. He is followed by broadcaster Rush Limbaugh (6%) and former Vice President Dick Cheney (4%).
Among all voters, including Democrats and unaffiliated voters, 48% say the Republicans have no clear leader. Steele is the top named Republican, the choice of 15% of voters. McCain is next with 11%.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of GOP voters say congressional Republicans have lost touch with the party’s base throughout the country.

Fifty percent (50%) of Arizona Republican voters say the same about McCain but don’t see him having much trouble beating his only announced opponent so far in next year’s GOP Senate Primary.

As Scott Rasmussen points out in a recent analysis, “To be relevant in politics, you need either formal power or a lot of people willing to follow your lead. The governing Republicans in the nation’s capital have lost both on their continuing path to irrelevance.”