He’s well known on FreeRepublic. He’s either unknown to the rest of America or has been cast in such a bad light by the MSM that the America that has heard of him is turned off by him.
I don't buy the "nobody knows who Cruz is" malarkey. He was in the limelight several times, mostly at odds with the RINO establishment in his attempts to shut down the federal government, and EVERYONE knew him then, if only to hate him as the liberals did.