Republican candidates: Does visibility make or break success in the polls?

Zurich/New York, 12/8/2023. By gaining the support of multi-billionaire Charles Koch, Nikki Haley, former member of the Trump administration and United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has significantly improved her chances of competing with her former boss Donald Trump in the primaries for the US presidency, in the eyes of the international media. But FOX News' ongoing analysis (Special Report with Bret Baier) for the period January to November 2023 shows that Haley has a huge visibility gap to overcome in order to become a familiar face to the Republican Party's base voters.

Trump, who has been quoted directly comparatively infrequently so far, is mentioned on average three times per show. Niki Haley ranks third among Republican candidates in terms of presence behind Ron DeSantis, but so far still lags far behind.

Another question is whether the "witch hunt" narrative that Trump has fed over the last two years in light of the numerous investigations against him will continue to hold water. If this were the case, the high proportion of negative ratings would be more likely to motivate his fans to fight for the "just cause" of his re-election. If this narrative is gradually shaken by condemnations, it could become more difficult for Trump. The most visible Republican candidate behind Trump, Ron DeSantis, may be over the perception threshold on Fox News. But his image is significantly worse than that of Nikki Haley and the number four on the presence list, Vivek Ramaswamy. Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson are far behind in terms of visibility and are therefore likely to find it difficult to convince potential sponsors.