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POLITICS

Last Two Obama Cabinet Members Surveyed Are Least Known

Veterans affairs is consistently one of the most sensitive areas for any politician, but 80% of voters are seemingly unaware of the man President Obama has put at the head of the federal department charged with handling that issue.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only nine percent (9%) of Likely U.S. Voters have a favorable opinion of Eric Shinseki, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, while 11% view the former Army general unfavorably. This includes one percent (1%) with a Very Favorable regard for him and three percent (3%) with a Very Unfavorable one. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Similarly, just eight percent (8%) have a favorable opinion of Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with one percent (1%) Very Favorable. Twelve percent (12%) view the former New York City housing official unfavorably, including four percent (4%) Very Unfavorable. Eighty-one percent (81%) have no opinion of him.

Democrats are only slightly more likely than Republicans or voters not affiliated with either major party to recognize Shinseki or Donovan.

Next to the president himself, some of the most senior positions in the country are held by the 15 Cabinet secretaries he appoints. Rasmusen Reports has been asking voters about each of these powerful political appointees and finding that the majority of them are little known.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 9-10, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. 

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