Round One of the “Define Ryan” battle goes to the Romney campaign:
In Wednesday through Friday interviews, fully 45 percent of Americans expressed no opinion of Ryan, dropping to 30 percent on Saturday and Sunday. The increasing familiarity all went to the positive side of the ledger, giving Ryan an initial advantage in the sprint to define his candidacy.
Overall, in interviews after his selection, 38 percent of all Americans express favorable views of Ryan, 33 percent negative ones. (Before the the announcement, Ryan was somewhat underwater, scoring 23 percent favorable, 32 unfavorable.) The most recent national numbers on Vice President Joe Biden are from a July Pew Research Center poll showing a split decision, 40 percent favorable, 37 percent unfavorable.
There are quite a few rounds to go, of course. The Obama campaign is inevitably going to attempt to flood the airwaves with ads contending Ryan wants all grandparents to suffer, yadda yadda yadda.
But we also know that there will be two more rounds that are very likely to go well for Ryan: his convention address and his debate with Biden.