Americans Say Presidential Campaign Will Be 'Exhausting'

Presidential campaigns are too long and have gotten longer the past too election cycles. (I think the GOP primary debates stretching back as far as mid-summer of 2011 is a first.) The good news from the Pew survey is that folks think the campaign will be informative. See, "Partisans Agree: Presidential Election Will Be Exhausting":

Republicans and Democrats find little to agree on these days, but they have some similar reactions to the 2012 presidential campaign. Nearly identical percentages of Republicans and Democrats say the election will be exhausting. On the positive side, there also is widespread partisan agreement that the campaign will be informative.

The national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 7-17 among 2,013 adults, finds that just 49% expect the election to be exciting. Nearly six-in-ten Democrats (59%) say the election will be exciting, compared with 51% of Republicans and just 41% of independents.

The expectation that the election will be exhausting is in line with perceptions of the campaign so far. Most Americans say the campaign has been too long and dull (56% each), while 53% say it has been too negative. At the same time, an overwhelming majority (79%) views the presidential campaign as important.

Comparable percentages of Republicans, Democrats and independents say that the campaign has been too long and too negative. And more than eight-in-ten Republicans (85%) and Democrats (83%) say the campaign is important, as do 77% of independents.

However, there are partisan differences in views of campaign 2012. Notably, fewer Republicans than Democrats say the campaign is interesting. Republicans are less likely to say the campaign is interesting – and more likely to view it as dull – than they were in late March, before Mitt Romney effectively wrapped up the GOP nomination.

Currently, 33% of Republicans say the presidential campaign is interesting down from 52% in late March (March 22-25). The share of Republicans describing this year’s campaign as dull has spiked from 42% to 60% since then. By contrast, Democrats are finding the campaign increasingly interesting as the general election gets underway. Currently, 45% say it is interesting, up from 36% in March.

I'm a bit surprised Republican identifiers are now finding the campaign dull. Earlier polls showed 90 percent enthusiasm for Mitt Romney's campaign, and there's a burning fire of opposition to this administration and especially ObamaCare. But if Team Romney keeps blowing the messaging they'll no doubt turn off more potential voters. That Wall Street Journal editorial on that today really nailed the point. As Ben LaBolt demonstrates at the clip, the White House is freaking about the tax issue in the ObamaCare ruling. So it's up to Romney to get it right on the messaging and to fire up the troops for the long battle.