Outside of people who actively follow politics, I doubt any governor except for De Santis and maybe Newsom. People who don't actively follow politics may have heard of Whitmer and Abbott, but if you showed people a photo of them, I doubt most people could tell you who they are. I suspect very few non New Yorkers remember who Kathy Hochul is and similarly that few people outside of Virginia remember who Glenn Youngkin is.
I've argued here before that this is why Governors make poor Presidential candidates and why the string of 4 governors out of 5 (Carter, Reagan, Clinton and W Bush) was just a meaningless statistical fluke.
Carter won precisely because he was an outsider following Nixon.
Reagan won because he was nationally known prior to becoming a governor not just for his acting but also as a General Electric spokesperson for whom he discussed economics and was clearly being coached to run for President on foreign policy.
Clinton was because the leading Democrats didn't get in the Presidential race in 1992 and he was an extraordinary politician.
W. Bush won in part due to the name recognition of his father, but also because the fix was in for him to win the Republican Primary. (After Bob Dole in 1996, wealthy Republican donors got together and agreed they would back only one candidate and freeze everybody else out. John McCain was able to challenge W. Bush for awhile getting a large amount of small donations and Steve Forbes was able to rely on his own money.)
I agree. People can name tons more Senators than Governors, they're just way more national
