Posted on 02/03/2014 6:29:15 PM PST by SeekAndFind
One poll showing him ahead is a fluke. Two polls showing him ahead? We call that “momentum.”
I’m not in the habit of making pledges, but I promise you this: I will never, ever tire of trolling you guys with numbers showing Huck as some sort of contender for the nomination. Ever.
Fourteen percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would likely support Huckabee for their party’s nomination if he runs.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is next at 13% followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Christie tied at 10%…
That’s a change from November, when Christie was 11 points ahead of the rest of the field. Huckabee was not tested in the November survey…
“Because Huckabee was not included in the November poll, any drop in Christie’s support among Republicans may be partly due to Huckabee as well as recent news stories. So it’s impossible to calculate exactly how much support Christie lost as a result of the bridge controversy. But it’s a pretty safe bet that the drop in Christie’s support against Clinton is due to the recent news stories about the bridge,” added Holland.
Huck siphoning support from Christie? Hmmm. In PPP’s poll last week, it was Ted Cruz whom he was stealing votes from. That made sense, since they’re both targeting social conservatives; in fact, it was among older voters, who trend more socially conservative, that Huckabee excelled in PPP’s data. CNN didn’t post the crosstabs for today’s survey but I think the pollster’s right that Christie’s dive has less to do with Huck than with Bridgegate exploding his advantage over the rest of the field. If you’re a Huck-hater and you’re looking for a silver lining in data like this possibly luring him into the field, here’s the best I can do: If he won Iowa and Rand Paul won New Hampshire, that’s as close as we’ll ever get to a pure libertarian-versus-social-conservatives battle of ideas in the primaries. I think Rand would win, mainly because he’s a lot more acceptable to Huckabee’s base than Huckabee is to his, but either way it sure would be fun to blog.
By the way, both of them get utterly crushed by Hillary in CNN’s hypothetical 2016 match-ups, 57-39 in Paul’s case and 56-39 in Huck’s. The big news from the poll, though, is that Christie’s now in the same boat. He trails 55-39 after having led her 48-46 as recently as December. In theory, that’s not a fatal wound; all he has to do is get past Bridgegate and start rebuilding his numbers to become Mr. Electable again. But how does he get past Bridgegate when Jersey Democrats are resolved to drag it out as long as possible to wound him? And how does he rebuild his numbers with independents and Democrats as we get closer to 2016 without another storm intervening? Lots of righties, me among them, have pointed out that second-term presidents rarely see their approval rating rebound once it’s nosedived like Obama’s has. I suspect the same is true of governors, especially ones who are tied down by scandal. Even if Christie comes back a little, how much would his numbers need to improve to convince center-righties that he’s worth gambling on for electability reasons more than center-right politicians whom they like better, like Scott Walker or Marco Rubio?
The Huckster has no chance to win BUT will split the conservative vote
allowing a RINO to win again.
It is a bump from the Uncle Sugar comments. Also some people would be voting Huckabee against the RNC trying to silence the issue. When Reince distanced himself it helped Huckabee. Huckabee was on Fox promoting his speech as well. Some Jeb/Christie voters may have switched.
Boehner and congress may have got a bump from the issue as well.
No way!
I agree with you, Huckabee was trying to put forward a counter narrative to the "war on women". This should be encouraged, even if I have my doubts about his choice of a counter narrative, and think he is unsuitable to become president.
He sure isn’t my front runner..
I’ll stand strong by TED CRUZ..
anyone know if that teen black girl that was on life support and declared brain dead, if she has died? and has she been removed? just wondering...huckabee was all over that case..
what has the Huckster done to deserve this rise in polling???
Last time I saw him he was preaching on a Christian tv channel but other than that haven’t heard him be politically active.
Jeb must be so annoyed. He was supposed to be Krispy’s successor!
Mark my words, we are going to end up with Mitt Romney again as GOP nominee for 2016, after a splash of Palin tease.
Huck has a Sunday Show on Fox News.
Having said that, I’ll agree with NOOOOOO!
You don’t have to pick at nits to despise the overly sincere, Statist, sweaty, big gubment Huckleberry that is the Huckster. The man is shallow. Shallow like a Haitian grave. The man is boring. Boring, like a drilling rig.
An “evangelical” whatever that means, who wants to harness other peoples money at the point of a bayonet to do good on this earth. Puke. Wants to utilize the full power and force of the Federal Gubment to work God’s good on this earth. Puke. A Conservative not afraid to tax and spend. Puke. We did that already. His name was Bush. Three times.
Had quite enough of large soft spoken shallow idiots who have only one driving philosophy behind governing. Get elected! Do what it takes. Do anything to get elected so that once elected you can harness the full power of gubment to work your will on the world. Puke.
How about a candidate who wants to slash the balls out of Washington and leave it a small quivering heap of what it once was? How about a candidate who will gut the Federal budget until it hurts the people who get fat off it. Let’s elect that guy. Oh yeah. We don’t have that guy.
Whoop de doo...14% This RINO fraudster will never get above that from true conservatives
Didn’t know Huckster had a Sunday program. Still I haven’t heard much from him. Guess his show is a snoozefest.
OH, FREAKING BITE ME.
No way no way no way no way.
The Huckster would looooooove the attention as much as Obama. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.
Who are these idiots who just want slightly tougher liberals?
“I’m sure that someone at FR can always find fault with this candidate and that...”
I am not a Mike Huckabee fan per se, but I think he would make a fine POTUS and is better than 90% of the persons put forward to head the GOP list by the many factions here on FR. I grow sick at all the reckless and moronic distortions/falsehoods spilled against Huckabee on this forum. I strongly suspect that it is just anti-conservative evangelical Christian bigotry (anti “real” Baptist in this case).
I sternly warn you Huckabee bashers here in FR that IF Huckabee runs and you keep this nonsense up....YOU will fracture the party. Because the conservative evangelical Christian base (like myself) will take this as a personal attack on MY values and beliefs. You will alienate us, and we won’t be there to back your pick. I am NOT saying you shouldn’t speak against Huckabee when you have differences, but be factual (and don’t spin/twist them) and rational and don’t resort to inflammatory rhetoric like “Huckster.” Ignore this at the country’s peril. Actually, this is true of any real social conservative. Ridiculous bashing will just cause us to stay home instead of backing a libertarian like Paul...which is the way things are headed.
That said, I have no problems with Cruz or Palin, and could happily vote for either....but don’t bash others to elevate them...it isn’t necessary.
Huckabee is pro-amnesty but he has had Chris Crane and Steve King on his show.
He had Crane on to talk about Obama’s executive orders.
He had Steve King on the show to talk about the man he beat in 2002 and counter attacking Karl Rove.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released statements calling on 10 Republicans who received campaign contributions from Huck to return the money and condemn the comments, the Hill reported. Those Republicans include Reps. Scott Rigell of Virginia, Steve Southerland of Florida and Steve King of Iowa.
King’s opponent Vilsack in 2012 wouldn’t even say if she was against gender selective abortion.
Does that RINO double speak. He’s less objectionable than Christie.
Huckleberry, Paul, Bush and Christie. Talk about a B team. Where are Walker and Cruz?
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