More than 30 million Americans say they've never heard of Mike Pence

(Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

published 4 February 2019

Sure, about 40 percent of American adults say they approve of President Trump in the newest CNN poll out Monday. But that's nothing new.

A more intriguing data point is that 12 percent of American adults say they've "never heard of" Vice President Mike Pence, as CNN's Ryan Struyk noted from the poll. By the most recent census estimates, that's 30,387,311 fully grown adults who are unaware of the second most powerful politician in the country.

Pence's forgettable status isn't a result of some mass amnesia — the portion of CNN poll respondents who say they don't know Pence has generally hovered around 10 percent since he first entered office. Meanwhile, a record low percentage of respondents — 5 percent — say they've never heard of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Pelosi last saw numbers as low as Pence's in May 2018, a past CNN poll found, suggesting her prominent role in the shutdown boosted her visibility. A slightly higher portion, 16 percent, say they don't know Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who seemingly went missing as the shutdown dragged on.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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