Schieffer More Favorable Than Couric

Bob Schieffer “scores much higher” than Katie Couric in this new Gallup poll of “television news and talk personalities.” Among respondents with opinions of each person, Schieffer has a 87 percent favorable and 13 percent unfavorable rating. His successor on the CBS Evening News has a 72 percent favorable and 28 percent unfavorable rating.

There’s a catch, of course: Only 17 percent of respondents had no opinion or knowledge of Couric, while 41 percent had no comment on Schieffer. Couric is clearly more well-known. But in the full sample, Schieffer’s unfavorable rating is just 9 percent, while Couric’s is 23 percent.

There’s also a 17 point net difference between Republican and Democratic opinions of Couric. CBS is well aware of all this, but the data is interesting nonetheless…