50% Prefer Candidate With Political Experience

Despite some candidates campaigning as political “outsiders”, half of voters nationwide still prefer a candidate with some political experience over one who has never held office. 

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 50% would rather vote for a candidate who has political experience over one who has never held office. Twenty-five percent (25%) would rather vote for someone who has never held office, while 24% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

While support for a candidate with political experience is unchanged from a year ago, the number who favors a political newcomer is down from 34%. 

Most Democrats (73%) prefer a candidate with political experience, but only 41% of Republicans and 35% of voters not affiliated with either party feel the same.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of government workers prefer a candidate with political experience, a view shared by just 38% of those who work for private companies.

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The survey of 913 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on October 23-24, 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.