Posted on 09/08/2015 12:40:50 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The results of the latest straw poll of WEEKLY STANDARD readers are in. It's not a scientific poll, of course—but since the respondents are very perceptive WEEKLY STANDARD readers, I'm going to claim (why not?) that the results are a suggestive leading indicator of where the GOP race may be going.
We asked for first, second, and third place choices. Here are the first place results:
Marco Rubio 21%
Donald Trump 15%
Ted Cruz 15%
Carly Fiorina 12%
Ben Carson 11%
Scott Walker 9%
John Kasich 7%
Jeb Bush 4%
No one else had more than 1.5 percent of the first place votes.
Now here are the percentage of the ballots on which the candidate is mentioned for first, second, or third place:
Carly Fiorina 52%
Marco Rubio 46%
Ben Carson 44%
Ted Cruz 40%
Scott Walker 29%
Donald Trump 25%
John Kasich 20%
Jeb Bush 14%
All others in mid-to-low single digits.
What to conclude?
1. An Elite Eight seems to have emerged. Someone else could come from far behind or enter the race late—but at this point it would seem likely one of these eight contenders listed above will be the nominee.
2. Scott Walker, who's led past TWS straw polls, has had a very bad few weeks. Can he recover?
3. John Kasich has a shot to join or replace Jeb Bush as the establishment candidate unafraid to make the case for nominating someone with governing experience.
4. Ben Carson has had a well-publicized and impressive move up. But Carly Fiorina has also rocketed up in our straw polls, and Ted Cruz has been gaining pretty consistently as well.
5. If you tend to think, as I do, that ultimately neither Trump nor Carson will be nominated, and if you assume no comeback for Walker or Bush, you get a Final Four of Rubio, Fiorina, Cruz, and Kasich. Which seems plausible.
I’m pretty much at the point where there are virtually NO mainstream or widely acknowledged Sunday pundits (or whatever the heck they want to call themselves) whose opinions I value at all.
To my mind, the fact that they are where they are is the problem. Just Kapo soldiers pumping out propaganda, lies obfuscation.
But this time it really, really, really, really is the end. Those other times didn't count.
Manipulated.
Carly Fiorina, for her present vocalizing about the Kentucky clerk, and for her previous statements in favor of mohammedansim, I will not vote for her.
(Having a hossface doesn’t count.)
Watched Krauthammer on Fox, the other night, as they showed the latest Maris {sp} poll, with Marco at 3%. Dr. Chucky did not seem to be cheer leading for Rubio anymore!
Well, you know, with the exception (I think) of David Freddoso, almost all of them live in the DC-NY beltway. These are the “Superzips” that Charles Murray discusses in “Coming Apart,” where you NEVER get any contrary views. Murray showed that in several of the DC zips, you could not find a SINGLE PERSON (save kids) on your block who hadn’t gone to an Ivy League school!!! He notes that outside of an occasional taxi driver or food truck worker, you would never in any meaningful way encounter one person NOT in your income level and relative IQ range. That is a huge danger to the republic.
None of them that I know of have any real contact with those of us out here in drive-by America. Their ‘America’ is much different than ours.
Note how this is a poll of READERS of the magazine, not necessarily subscribers. I suspect that it’s from their paper copies - so that it couldn’t get FReeped by us.
So just who does ‘read’ the magazine? I strongly suspect that it winds up being sent to every Republican-leaning insider and office in the country, or at least DC, and that few of them actually pay for it - rather their advertisements cover the cost.
Bottom line - I’m surprised Trump is doing so well in their ‘polling’, when Trump will pretty much shut down every political office that is now receiving the publication, should he win.
That’s what I think, though I’m hesitant to judge. After all, some MUST live in flyover country.
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