John Edwards Now Most Unpopular Figure Anywhere, Anytime: Pollster

How unpopular is John Edwards? Though it seems obvious, the findings of a new poll on the former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards are still startling if only for the reflection of how far he has fallen in the world of public opinion.

The North Carolina Democrat is viewed positively by only 15 percent of voters in his home state, according to the firm Public Policy Polling. That total makes Edwards the "most unpopular person we've polled anywhere at any time," conclude the survey's authors.

He's still seen positively by 25% of Democrats but only 9% of independents and 3% of Republicans. Interestingly despite his new image as a philanderer men have a more unfavorable opinion of him (75%) than women (68%).

The numbers are what one would expect when polling the popularity of a politician who cheated on his cancer-stricken wife while possibly fathering a child out of wedlock, all while running for the presidency of the United States. And Edwards's horribly negative portrayal in the new 2008 campaign book, "Game Change," certainly didn't help matters.

And yet, to be historically unpopular is a real feat, considering all the loathed politicians. The Huffington Post asked PPP's pollster Tom Jensen to contrast Edwards's plight with those of others he's followed. Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill) was the record holder before Edwards and "Jim Bunning (R) in Kentucky was in that territory as well," he replied

Other philanderers like Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) now have respectable approval ratings, Jensen relayed, in part because their political party was willing to stomach their transgressions.

"What we find is that Republicans will forgive you for cheating on your wife as long as you are a Republican," said Jensen. "Democrats are not forgiving Edwards."

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[ancient6]

03:30 PM on 02/01/2010

Image...? I wonder how his image is when you view the video of him and his

[unhipcat]

05:34 PM on 01/29/2010

He should suffer the same ignominy and exile from politics as Gingrich and McCain.

[elvisd]

03:19 PM on 01/21/2010

Don't playa hate. Edwards is an inspiration to all in the hustler community.

[slowhand0728]

06:05 PM on 01/20/2010

A 1/4 of Dems still see him positively? No way that can be right.

[Leigh49]

04:09 PM on 01/20/2010

Yes, I did read that in the same media in which you read he wasn't. There are even photos of him with the little girl. So shove it.

[lemondade]

02:24 PM on 01/20/2010

EDWARDS CHEATED ON HIS WIFE/CHILDREN/PARENTS/IN-LAWS/AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED IN HIM. OUR COUNTRY NEEDED HIM AND HE PRETENDED HE CARED. JUST LIKE HE PRETENDED TO BE A GOOD HUSBAND AND SENATOR.

THE FACT THAT HIS CANCER-STRICKEN WIFE WAS CAMPAIGNING FOR HIM AND HE HAD SEX WITH "THEIR VIDEO OPERATOR" IS BEYOND BELIEF!? IF HE NEEDED TO CHEAT, WHY DID HE DO IT WITH SOMEONE HIS WIFE KNEW AND TRUSTED!? AND WHY WASN'T HE MAN ENOUGH TO ADMIT WHAT HE DID.

IT PROVES THAT A CUTE FACE ON A MAN OR WOMAN IN POLITICS MEANS NOTHING: "THE DEVIL APPEARS AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT." HOW TRUE.

[blisster]

12:05 PM on 01/20/2010

More than Pet Goat Bush and Sure Shot Cheney? Favored 3 to 1 by deposed despots.

[peacebro]

10:47 AM on 01/20/2010

HP 'Pile on Page'

...enjoy!

[kassandrasduplex]

10:15 AM on 01/20/2010

""What we find is that Republicans will forgive you for cheating on your wife as long as you are a Republican," said Jensen. "Democrats are not forgiving Edwards.""

What we find when we look at the amount of negative media attention Edwards has received is many times more than say, Vitter. Had the corporate media been out to smear a Republican philanderer as much as they have Hart, Edwards etc. perhaps people wouldn't be so easily manipulated. Remember folks, Edwards ran on a platform of redistributive tradtional NEW DEAL politics and now his charatcer has been as, sas, sinated. Anyone surpirsed?

[LisaLisa1234]

09:06 AM on 01/21/2010

I don't know. It seems to me that if his character has been as, sas, sinated, he bought the rifle & drew a big target on his chest, while standing there with his arms spread wide.

I can still vote for a politician who has strayed, IF it doesn't interfere with his/her job. Otherwise, who would there be to vote for?

I'm angry at Clinton for putting himself in the position he did. If he had not lied about what he had done, there would have been nothing for Ken Starr to do, and his presidency wouldn't have been so utterly chaotic at the end of the decade.

In Edwards' case, I voted for him in the 2004 primary. I thought he had a real desire to work for the underdog. It's not the straying, so much as the lying...and the lying...and the lying...and God forbid, if he had gotten the nomination instead of Obama, we'd have McCain/Palin in the White House right now.

I think the sentence you quoted is true; ironically, the "right", who claim to be "righteous", are willing to forgive an indiscretion as long as the sinner belongs to the "right" party. The left, who the right sees as morally bankrupt, tends to take a deeper look before wiping the slate clean.

As an Independent voter, to me, it's all about the job they're doing for the American people.

[LisaLisa1234]

09:09 AM on 01/21/2010

That said, I hope he has an epiphany through all this. I hope his little daughter will be loved and cared for, that he will finally focus on supporting his wife through the fight for her life, and perhaps in a number of years, he will have grown some character and use his talent for good.

[David Rozgonyi]

08:47 AM on 01/20/2010

" Interestingly despite his new image as a philanderer men have a more unfavorable opinion of him (75%) than women (68%)."

What kind of a dipshyte statement is this? Should everyone with test icles cheer when another ball-bearing mo ron cheats on his spouse? And when they don't, it's somehow shocking....

What is really shocking is what his actions have done to undermine the sanctity of opposite marriage!

Ha ha!

[kjo9013]

01:43 PM on 01/20/2010

That figure is probably the case because more men are Republicans than Democrats, where the opposite is true for women. More women are Democrats and more sympathetic to a fellow Democrat. Even though, I don't see how anyone could have a favorable opinion of Edwards. The segments in Game Change about him are startling.

[gumbo1049]

08:12 AM on 01/20/2010

SHAME

[Mercy8 om]

08:04 AM on 01/20/2010

I thought he was a bowl of watery cold soup before any of this came out.

[yourmotherwasahamster]

07:57 AM on 01/20/2010

"What we find is that Republicans will forgive you for cheating on your wife as long as you are a Republican," said Jensen.

This is because Republicans (much more often than Dems) use morality as a cloak, one that they remove as soon as they are out of public sight. The more preachy the public persona, the more twisted the private behavior.

[winterfield]

07:53 AM on 01/20/2010

Really ? worse than W? Cheney? I don't believe it. Who runs Public Policy Polling? That's where you'll find the answers to this polling.

[whitequeen96]

03:52 AM on 01/20/2010

Oh come on! You mean he's worse than W?!? Yeah, what Edwards did was pretty darn despicable, but it's not like he caused the deaths of 1,000's and brought our nation to its knees!

[jsmappy]

08:41 AM on 01/21/2010

If Bush is responsible for the death of thousands, and has brought the nation to its knees, what is Obama responsible for? The war rages on & the economy has been made worse. But he's great & Bush is terrible. Very objective!

[Jeff Modzelewski]

07:15 PM on 01/21/2010

It took Bush 8 years to create this mess. I'm giving Obama more than a year to dig us out.