More than six in ten Republican primary voters say they'd be comfortable with Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as the next Speaker of the House, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows.
Sixty-three percent said they would feel "comfortable and positive" about Ryan taking over the top job, while 28 percent say they would feel "skeptical and uncertain" if the former GOP vice presidential nominee moved into the position held by retiring Rep. John Boehner.
Ryan has not said whether or not he will seek the speakership, despite urging from Republican colleagues across the political spectrum. While Ryan is viewed as the Republican most likely to be able to unify the fractured Republican conference, some on the far right have voiced concerns that he will not work closely enough with the party's most strident conservative members.
In the new poll, conservative primary voters appeared to be fairly at ease with the idea of Ryan holding the gavel. Sixty-eight percent of Tea Party backers and 67 percent of "very conservative" Republicans said they are comfortable with Ryan taking over the leadership slot.
