What 17 New Yorkers Knew About Carly Fiorina

After starting out as a low-tier Republican candidate, Carly Fiorina has fought her way to the top of the presidential polls. Two strong debate performances, an unrelenting opposition to Planned Parenthood, and the ability to stand her ground against frontrunner Donald Trump has made her popular among Republicans in recent weeks. She's tied with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for third place in the latest NBC / Wall Street Journal poll. However, her lack of fame and political experience means that she still has less name recognition than some of her more well-known opponents. Trump is a household name and everyone know what family Jeb Bush comes from, but Fiorina hasn't quite gained the same notoriety across the country yet, despite her high poll numbers. To get a feel for whether Americans really know who she is, I asked New Yorkers what they know about Fiorina. The results didn't bode well for her.

First of all, more than half of the people I asked had no idea who Fiorina was, which isn't a great sign for someone running for president, since you actually need people to vote for you. The people who did know her name didn't know much beyond the fact that she's a Republican candidate for president and that she once ran a Fortune 500 company. Multiple people had strong opinions about her self-proclaimed successful business record. Some only knew that she was a woman, which is a little obvious from her name. A few more politically savvy people were familiar with her attacks on Planned Parenthood and/or her showdowns with Trump in the last GOP debate.

In general, people knew the big points of Fiorina's latest claim to fame, which shows that she's making some progress (albeit small) toward becoming a viable candidate. Here's what 17 New Yorkers knew about Fiorina.

Geraldine, 63

Kate, 37

Kristen, 26

Steven, 63

Emily, 25

Michael, 28

Meghan, 26

Dan, 30

Nick, 27

Maddie, 19, And Ashton, 19

Ginger, 30

Caleb, 21

William, 24

Gaurav, 30, And Shriya, 27

Linda, 57

Images: Lauren Holter/Bustle