Pence kicks off campaign in weaker position than past vice presidents

Serving as vice president has typically been a reliable stepping stone to the presidency. But that step is looking shakier for Mike Pence, who jumps into the GOP presidential race in a weaker position than almost any other former VP in modern history. 

Pence, of course, is not the average vice president seeking a promotion. He is the first to face off against a former running mate for his party’s nomination — and that ex-running mate has spent the last two and a half years slamming him. Former President Donald Trump has led recent primary polling, emerging as the consistent frontrunner, while Pence has struggled to crack double digits. 

And NBC News poll released in April found just 6 percent of Republican primary voters saying they support Pence, while 46% backed Trump.

And while Pence still had a net-positive rating from Republicans in recent NBC News polling, he doesn't have nearly the same goodwill within his party as some other former vice presidents.

NBC News polling from August of 2022 found 44% of Republicans had positive views of Pence, while 22%% viewed him negatively. That’s a higher negative rating among members of his own party than two other vice presidents who recently ran for the White House and went on to win their primaries — Joe Biden and Al Gore. 

Biden jumped into the 2020 presidential race in April of 2019, and an Aug. 2019 NBC News survey found that he had a 42-point net-positive rating among Democrats, with 57% viewing him positively. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats viewed Gore positively, while just 12% viewed him negatively, in a June 1999 NBC News poll conducted soon after Gore's campaign announcement.

The last Republican vice president to run for the White House, Dan Quayle, also struggled within his own party — Quayle actually received a higher negative rating among Republicans than Pence. 

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NBC News conducted a poll two days after Quayle officially jumped into the race in April 1999 and found 32% of Republicans had positive views of Quayle, while 34% viewed him negatively. Quayle eventually dropped out of the race a few months before the Iowa caucuses

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Other former vice presidents also began their presidential campaigns as frontrunners. In 1987, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush led a hypothetical primary matchup against then-GOP Sen. Bod Dole with support from 49% of Republicans, according to a Gallup poll conducted in March 1987, several months before Bush launched his campaign. 

Former Vice President Walter Mondale also began his 1984 campaign with a polling lead. A Gallup survey released in March 1983, shortly after Mondale announced his campaign in February, found 32% of Democrats backing Mondale and 13% supporting then-Sen. John Glenn.

Both Bush and Mondale went on to win their parties' nominations.