On Tuesday, September 5, Katie Couric will take the helm as anchor of the CBS Evening News. Almost as soon as the move was announced, critics started speculating whether her trademark perkiness would connect with evening news audiences. Seventeen percent (17%) of Americans think she’ll be a better anchor than the previous anchor, Dan Rather. Sixteen percent (16%) say she won’t be as good and 39% expect her to be about the same as Rather.

Overall, the latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 46% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Couric and 29% have an unfavorable opinion. She gets slightly better marks among those who watch CBS news on a regular basis—57% favorable and 21% unfavorable.

Despite the hype surrounding her job change, only 9% of Americans say they’ve been following news of Couric’s move to CBS “very closely.” Nearly one-third of respondents say they haven’t been following the story at all.

Couric is replacing Dan Rather, who retired after decades in the anchor’s chair. Rather’s career ended on a controversial note following a news story he broadcast during Election 2004 concerning the National Guard service of President Bush. Following that episode, Rather was viewed favorably by 42% of Americans and unfavorably by 33%.

Couric, like Rather, is viewed most favorably by Democrats. Among Democrats, Couric is viewed favorably by 56% and unfavorably by 23%. Republicans are nearly evenly divided—43% favorable and 38% unfavorable. Among those not affiliated with either major party, Couric’s numbers are 38% favorable and 27% unfavorable.

Such partisan differences are typical in perceptions of news coverage. During Election 2004, just 33% of Americans viewed CBS News as unbiased. A plurality, 37% thought the network was trying to help the Kerry campaign. All television network news programs were perceived to have some level of bias. Other survey data showed that viewers of CNN favored John Kerry over George Bush by a 63% to 26% margin while Fox viewers favored Bush over Kerry 65% to 28%.

One reason that the Couric story may not be attracting attention is because the network television audience continues to decline and not many people are watching CBS’ evening news. Forty-three percent (43%) of respondents say they “rarely or never” watch that network’s evening news broadcast. Twenty-eight percent (28%) report watching occasionally and only 8% say they are daily viewers.