Most Americans don’t know Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff

Linley SandersData Journalist
May 12, 2021, 5:00 PM GMT+0

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff has recently been traveling around the United States to promote President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, but data from the Economist/YouGov poll shows that many are not yet familiar with the nation’s first-ever Second Gentleman.

Only 46% of Americans have an opinion of Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. About one-quarter (23%) of Americans have a positive opinion of the Second Gentleman, and 23% have an unfavorable view of him.

Democrats are as likely to have a positive opinion of Emhoff (42%) as have no opinion at all (39%). One in five Democrats (19%) have a negative perception of him. Most Republicans (56%) and three in five Independents (62%) have no opinion of the Vice President’s husband. Of those who have an opinion, Republicans are negative by 33% to 10%. Independents also tend to be negative by 24% to 14%.

Vice President Harris, who is second-in-line to the presidency, is obviously much more of a known presence than her husband. Nine in 10 Americans (90%) have an opinion of the Vice President, with 41% viewing her favorably and 48% having an unfavorable opinion.

Three in four Democrats (74%) have a favorable view of Harris, compared to one-third (32%) of Independents and 12% of Republicans. Most Independents (57%) and Republicans view her negatively (84%).

See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov poll

Related: Why YouGov is changing how we ask people whether they’ve received the COVID-19 vaccine

Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 US Adult Citizens interviewed online between May 1 - 4, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 2.6% for the overall sample

Image: Getty