Republicans Have No Clear Leader in the Eyes of Most Americans

When you have the White House or a majority on Capitol Hill, it's easy for people to identify who they think are a party's leaders, but none of those conditions apply to the Republicans and, as a result, just 29 percent of Americans can name someone when asked who they think of as the leader of the GOP, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted April 21-26.

The numbers are not that much better when the question is limited to self-described Republicans. Thirty-six percent of them can name someone.

For both the public in general and Republicans in particular, Arizona Sen. John McCain tops the lists at 8 percent and 11 percent respectively, hardly surprising since he was the party's standardbearer in 2008.

The only others above 1 percent among the general public are Sarah Palin (4 percent), Mitt Romney (3 percent) and Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich (each at 2 percent).

Republicans put Romney slightly ahead of Palin (6 percent for him, 5 percent for her) followed by Gingrich at 3 percent. They are less impressed than the public in general with Limbaugh who was only named by 1 percent.

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