Social media darling Cory Booker may be the favorite to become New Jersey's newest Senator, but a majority of Americans have not yet heard of him.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker yesterday won the Democratic primaries in New Jersey and is now the party's official candidate in the special Senate election in October. He has become a staple of cable news shows, with famous friends and a habit of personally rescuing animals as well as maintaining a prolific Twitter presence.
The latest YouGov research shows, however, that 58% of Americans still do not know who he is and only 9% say that they know 'a lot' about this mayor. 33% of Americans say that they know a little about Cory Booker.
Unsurprisingly, he is best known - and most popular - in the Northeast of the country, where he has become prominent not only in New Jersey but also through wider regional politics. Voters favor Cory Booker 2-to-1 in the Northeast, but in the Midwest and South Cory Booker is little known and has unfavorability ratings which are nearly level with his favorability ratings.
Democrats are no more or less likely than Republicans to have heard of Cory Booker, with 59% saying that they have not heard of him. In terms of favorability relative to a list of other Democratic politicians, Booker is better know and more popular among Democrats than New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Texas Assemblywoman Wendy Davis and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Hillary Clinton is the most popular, with a favorability rating among Democrats of 82%.
