Media Star? Half of Pennsylvanians Don't Know Who Chris Matthews Is

Apparently having a show on two different networks owned by NBC does not guarantee familiarity with voters.  Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball” and NBC’s “The Chris Matthews Show” has hinted at a run for Arlen Specter’s Senate seat in 2010 as reported by Mark Finkelstein here.

A Quinnipiac University poll of Pennsylvanians found that 55 percent of voters “say they don’t know enough to have an impression of him (Matthews)” as reported in the August 5 edition of Politico’s The Scorecard blog, which can be found here.  The same poll found that 28 percent hold a favorable view of Matthews while 15 percent look unfavorably on the “thrilled” Hardball host.

In contrast, Specter has a 55 percent favorable rating along with a 26 percent unfavorable rating among those polled.  To be fair, Pennsylvanians could be more familiar with Sen. Specter because he has represented the state of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate since 1980.  In comparison, Matthews has the 24th ranked news show on cable television with an average audience of 494,000 viewers in the entire U.S.