McGovern announced his candidacy on January 18, 1971, during a televised speech from the studios of KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At the time of his announcement, McGovern ranked fifth among Democrats in a presidential preference Gallup Poll. The earliest such entry since Andrew Jackson was designed to give him time to overcome the large lead of the frontrunner, Maine senator Edmund Muskie. Nevertheless, by January 1972, McGovern had only 3 percent national support among Democrats in the Gallup Poll and had not attracted significant press coverage.