Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation poll: Why we should ignore Cory Booker and focus on Bain

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos & SEIU. 5/31-6/3. Registered voters. MoE: ±3.1% (no trendlines):

There's nothing like a phony media-created phenomenon. After Newark Mayor Cory Booker created a press firestorm (and drove his political career on to the rocks) with his whining about Democratic attacks on Mitt Romney's work at Bain Capital, we wanted to find out if anyone actually even knew who Cory Booker was. The answer:

Q: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Cory Booker?

Favorable: 17
Unfavorable: 14
Not sure: 70

So, not really. Indeed, these numbers come after Booker received days of saturation media coverage. Before that whole brouhaha started, Booker was undoubtedly even more of a nobody. But he was certainly wrong about whether or not Bain matters:

Q: Does Mitt Romney's work at Bain Capital make you more or less likely to vote for him, or does it not make a difference?

More likely: 18
Less likely: 38
No difference: 41
Not sure: 3

Predictably, Democrats are turned off by Romney's history at Bain (59-9 say it makes them less likely to vote for him'but of course, few Democrats were planning to vote Romney anyway). Republicans, though, are less jazzed about Bain (by 34-12, they're more likely to support him because of his work). Independents, to the extent they are up for grabs (though most, in reality, have already made up their minds), are probably the most interesting group here. Forty percent say Bain makes them less likely to vote Romney and just 11 percent say it makes them more likely to do so.

This suggests that Bain Capital is indeed a potent line of attack'and that no one should care what Cory Booker says.

P.S. As always, our approval and favorability numbers can be found on our weekly trends page. It looks like we wound up with an unusually Democratic-heavy sample this week'click through and you'll see what I mean.