Why isn't Ted Cruz doing better in the polls? What's your opinion? (Vanity)

me ^ | 10/22/15 | me

[Artemis Webb]

In every poll I see, Ted Cruz is a distant 4th, sometimes 5th. The guy has a very well organized ground game. He's knowledgable. He acts presidential. So why isn't he doing better in the polls?

I'm interested in opinions.

[lodi90]

Cruz needed to run the table and he badly stumbled campaigning for Obama’s TPA. He lost my unconditional support at that point. Now he’s on my list but any illusion that he was a Reagan type figure is gone.

[jjotto]

No votes have been cast. As long as Cruz has adequate money, I believe he will be a finalist.

That said, consultants and donors seem as jerked around by fake polls as FReepers, so it’s a guess whether Cruz will stay in long enough to count his actual votes.

[InterceptPoint]

Cruz is slow but steady. A couple of months ago he was in 8th place and at risk of falling to 11th and out of the first Big Boys debate.

Right now on RCP he is in 4th and homing in on Rubio, the current 3rd place holder.

Fiorina is falling like a rock.
Bush is fading
Walker is gone
Paul, Huckabee, Kasich and Christie are finished

Trump has pulled nearly all the oxygen out of the Conservative Room. Carson grabbed some of it and Cruz has picked up the crumbs. But they are solid, loyal crumbs. He will advance if either Carson or Trump start to slip. With Carson that is likely. With Trump that is possible.

[cripplecreek]

15 candidates in the race and polls are a laughable indicator. Plus the media has a favorite candidate they talk about constantly.

[monocle]

Charisma or lack thereof.

[Eccl 10:2]

While I like him a lot and would love to see him as President, he has some characteristics which are not election-friendly on a national stage:

1) He is an unabashed evangelical. I personally love that in him, but 75% of America (at least) is viscerally and supernaturally opposed to that.

2) He is cast as a political outsider, so he doesn’t get the GOPe support. Of what’s left, Trump is sucking up all that oxygen.

3) As much as I like him, he has very little charisma.

4) The Corporate Mainstream Liberal Globalist Elite Media despise him, so he gets no positive or even neutral exposure there.

[AustinBill]

Cruz is too smart for his own good and as a result suffers from the "Adlai Stevenson" syndrome:

During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Mr. Stevenson "Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!" Stevenson called back "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!"

The problem is American's don't elect eggheads to be president. His forensic skills are top-notch and that makes him a superb lawyer, but he lacks charisma--something Trump has in spades. By contrast Cruz comes across as somewhat cold and distant.

It's one of the reasons why he'd benefit greatly from being Trump's VP.

[Fernet Branca]

Basically it’s because he’s too smart; he comes off as pedantic to the average voter.
I personally prefer him over the rest of the field.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Your analysis is as good as any I’ve seen. Maybe he would be good on the Supreme Court.

[nathanbedford]

(1) Trump enjoyed a significant advantage from name recognition.

(2) Trump struck exactly the right note on the right issue, immigration, from the get go.

(3) Trump has become the symbolic Paladin against the Republican establishment.

(4) Trump is become the symbolic Paladin against the media.

(5) Trump's pugnacity is misunderstood by the voters to be commitment to conservative values.

(6) The Republican establishment has created an atmosphere ideal for a maverick, even an obnoxious maverick.

(7) the electorate is desperate to be rescued from the twin betrayers in the person of Barack Obama and in the Republican establishment who are driving the Republic full speed toward the fiscal cliff.

(8) the electorate is frightened by the specter of terrorism and belligerent China abroad and they desperately seek a leader but confuse bellicosity with tenacity.

(9) Trump's obdurate refusal to apologize for anything leads unwary voters to believe that he will hold fast to political promises made now and rule as a conservative against a Republican establishment who have repeatedly lied to the public and in contradistinction to Barack Obama who has also repeatedly lied to the electorate.

[ncpatriot]

Ditto

[9YearLurker]

Because the deal is to always vote for the most conservative candidate who can win. That is Trump. Also, Trump’s efficacy on the campaign trail will likely carry over to governance, since he has Reagan’s ability to go over the media directly to the people.

I’d love to see Cruz as Trump’s veep understudy and let him win a third Trump term in eight years.

[9YearLurker]

Part of it I think is Cruz’s upbringing as a preacher’s son in Texas. That style just comes across as oily to a good portion of the country.

Yet, it’s not only that, as evidenced by the Huckster’s relative humanity and popularity.

[Cobra64]

Yea. In the men time, let Trump continue his bre knuckle street fight against the fools in our party like Yen.

[oldplayer]

hile I like him a lot and would love to see him as President, he has some characteristics which are not election-friendly on a national stage:

1) He is an unabashed evangelical. I personally love that in him, but 75% of America (at least) is viscerally and supernaturally opposed to that.

2) He is cast as a political outsider, so he doesn’t get the GOPe support. Of what’s left, Trump is sucking up all that oxygen.

3) As much as I like him, he has very little charisma.

4) The Corporate Mainstream Liberal Globalist Elite Media despise him, so he gets no positive or even neutral exposure there.

I agree totally with you, Eccl 10:2. I pasted your entire post here again because it is so completely correct.

Oldplayer

[servantboy777]

A year before the primary process began, co-workers and I sat for lunch and I conveyed to them my opinion regarding what would take place during the primary season.

The republican establishment would attempt to flood the field with candidates in an effort to water down the conservative voice. Bada bing, bada boom...happened just as I'd thought it would.

The big wild card, TRUMP. I knew Ted Cruz would run for president and I also knew, the republican party hated him. My prediction was they'd flood the field in an effort to drown out Cruz...didn't see the whole Trump thang happening.

[FourPeas]

I don’t think many people are paying much attention except to whomever the media hypes. Most Americans don’t become serious about choosing a candidate until we’re farther into the primary season. At this point in the process, the polls tell us what people think of what they (casually) see in the media or about their preconceived notions.

Also, in the GOP debates, Cruz has received very little air time. Between the desire of media/GOPe to take down Trump and Cruz’s reputation for formal debate has scared the media from giving him much time. Of course it hasn’t helped that there are so many candidates. (I suspect that will radically change when Trump gets Bush to drop out.)

[Cobra64]

I prefer Ted. Trump should pick Cruz and we’d have 12 years of sanity.

[ThunderSleeps]

Trump outshines Cruz in terms of media savvy and appearance issues.

I think Cruz is the better Conservative.

Well said, and I believe exactly right.

The MSM is actively avoiding Mr. Cruz because they fear him. They realize he could very easily win it all. If Mr. Cruz can get through the primaries neither Hillary nor Bernie stands a chance against him.

The only hope the MSM sees of furthering their agenda is to foist someone on us from the Rep. side that is either: good old GOPe, business-as-usual, compromise on everything, fight on nothing... or push a candidate to the fore who has enough negatives (or can be made to appear to have negatives) that they can highlight those and maybe pull off a Dem win.

So the MSM pushes Trump, who has made enough controversial statements over the years that when the time is right, they can bring those out against him. Or they push Carson, who has said some things that cause conservatives to question his resolve and conservative credentials. Or they push GOPe at us...

But with Mr. Cruz... He's conservative enough, mainstream enough, apparently few if any negatives... Entirely, easily electable but very much not in keeping with their liberal agenda. So he terrifies them. Without any real mud to sling, their only option is silence. Studiously ignoring him and hoping he'll go away.

[VanDeKoik]

A candidate so weak that he cant control the media cycle, is going to somehow magically control it if he is the nominee?