Right. The purpose of the polls, I presume, is to gauge the opinion of Free Republic posters, not to poll the electorate. I think most everyone here understands that Free Republic is not representative of the Republican Party, let alone the country at large. We’re a self-selected group of conservative and libertarian activists and news junkies.
A careful examination of those polls would probably reveal a steady growth of the occurrence of Fred Thompson's name at the top of the list ~ IRRESPECTIVE OF THE QUESTION ASKED.
Now, his name won't be at the top.
At the same time I don't think you'll find Romney picking up the Fred-heads in large numbers ~
Pshaw.
We are "the press" these days.