The Drudge Report attracts one of the largest audiences of any media outlet in the world and has become a fixture in the pop culture of politics and news. Web publishers know that a link from the Drudge Report will drive more traffic than just about any other single source referral.

Despite this, the man behind the report, Matt Drudge, is largely unknown to the general public. A plurality--45%--don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Twenty percent (20%) express a favorable opinion of him while 36% take the opposite view. However, even those opinions are fairly soft. Just 5% have a Very Favorable opinion of Drudge and 16% have a Very Unfavorable view.

Those ratings put him near the bottom of a list of reporters, pundits, and anchors recently measured by Rasmussen Reports. Ninety percent (90%) have an opinion about CBS News Anchor Katie Couric and 85% are willing to volunteer a favorable or unfavorable assessment on Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly. No reporter we asked about had a favorability rating lower than Drudge.

While Americans tend to hold politics and politicians in low regard, the leading Election 2008 Presidential candidates are viewed more favorably than the nation’s leading news reporters.

See favorability ratings for journalists, Republican and Democratic Presidential hopefuls, Members of Congress, and other Political Leaders.

Rasmussen Reports releases daily updates on the President’s Job Approval and the political scene along with regular updates on polling for the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominations.