I went back to the IA poll of a few days ago and noted their internals (they make them very public) Amongst Republicans the order was Gingrich-Perry- Paul and Romney tied for 3rd.
Among Independents polled for the Iowa Republican Caucus the order was, Gingrich-Paul-Romney
Among Democrats polled for the Republican Iowa Caucus the order was Paul-Gingrich-Romney.
I believe a lot of Ron Paul’s support is cynical (follow the money). Young people “looking forward” to no jobs in the Obama depression, or working on degrees in areas where government money could fund a study, a program (their professors have sucked on this tit for decades) — instead of being “wasted” to support the “evil” military and “misguided” war on drugs — which also ties into what they’ve been taught in many institutions of higher education — so many useless degrees and “green” thinkers believing that Ron Paul is the Rx for what ails the country. So they’re leaving support for Barack “hope and change” Obama at the school house/no job market door and flocking to Ron Paul which has the sweetener of hurting those evil “rich” conservatives who are destroying the planet and are ready to “bomb” the world.
The problem for them is — they never will get the money; it always finds another home. With the debt and deficit ballooned out of sight, that money isn’t heading in their direction. The naturally productive ones will eventually “grow up” and realize the truth about living in a safe, free market society but many will hang fast to the hope (libertarians for sure) that once the “war on drugs” and the “evil military complex” have their wings clipped, some of those trillions of “wasted” dollars will certainly flow to them. It won’t and their lot will be worse. We have for too long been building “me-me-itis” generations, whose values and goals are nurtured and fanned by teachings of socialist professors spawned in the Sixties who have multiplied themselves with our youth.
So Ron Paul is their cup of tea. They’re only one step away from OWS (most likely have a foot in both camps already). If Ron Paul definitively said, “I will not run third Party,” much of his support would evaporate today. Which is precisely why he has not ruled it out.