Posted on 09/28/2015 8:34:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Early as it is, recent polls are beginning to tell us something about the 2016 presidential election.
For one thing, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Jeb Bush will be the Republican nominee. Not only is he a weak fifth (at 7%) in the just released NBC/WSJ poll, Republicans, as of now anyway, just don’t like him. In a new Fox News poll, he has a net favorability rating (like/dislike) among GOP voters of a measly one percent.
For comparison, favorability ratings for Trump are +12, Cruz +21, Fiorina +30, Rubio +35, and Carson an unprecedented +52. Almost everybody likes him. (I thought Republicans were supposed to be bigots.) Carson is also creeping up behind Trump over all, only one point behind in the aforementioned NBC/WSJ poll, 21-20. (Fiorina and Rubio are tied for third at 11.)
Perhaps more telling, in another just released poll of North Carolina voters by Elon University, in a hypothetical NC general election matchup we find Trump losing to Clinton by 7%, but Clinton herself losing to Carson by 11%. That’s a huge 18 percent swing! (I don’t think you’ll find Donald bragging about that one on Hannity.)
Something is clearly going on here, Mr. Jones. But what is it? First off, voters have liked Dr. Carson from the beginning for his life story and his authenticity. But lately he has shown more than that. His statement that he would not support a Muslim for president — and then giving his reasons, specifically that sharia law with its legislated misogyny and homophobia, not to mention immutable fusion of church and state, is in direct contradistinction to our Constitution — has highlighted issues for the electorate that no other candidate has thus far dared to raise, at least to the level that Carson has. And he has resonated with the public on the subject across party lines. (In one poll, 51% agreed with Carson and 28% disagreed.)
Moreover, Carson is talking seriously about substantive ideological issues like taqiyya – the principle in both Shia and Sunni versions of sharia law allowing Muslims to lie to non-Muslims for the advancement of Islam — that rarely are discussed in political campaigns (or, for that matter, in Iran negotiations). The public, some small part of it anyway, is being educated.
Not surprisingly, this – dare we call it – uppityness on the part of the neurosurgeon has elicited a fair amount of cognitive dissonance or, in Andy McCarthy’s term, willful blindness from the liberal punditocracy. Jake Tapper on his Sunday show acted as if he could scarcely understand what Carson was saying, even though it is quite simple. Fortunately for us, CNN itself published a transcript. From Carson:
Let me tell you what I would advocate, I would advocate that people go back and look at the transcript of what I actually said. …I would have problems with somebody who embraced all the doctrines associated with Islam. If they are not willing to reject sharia and all the portions of it that are talked about in the Quran. If they are not willing to reject that, and subject that to American values and the Constitution, then of course, I would. I would ask you, would you be willing to do that? Would you be willing to advocate for somebody who would not do that? Probably not. …Is it possible that maybe the media thinks it’s a bigger deal than the American people do? Because American people, the majority of them, agree and they understand exactly what I am saying.
Thankfully, they do.
Now wise friends of mine still tell me that the former pediatric neurosurgeon cannot be president, even though he has done such pioneering things in the operating room and even though he is arguably the most extraordinary individual to run for president since Lincoln and Washington. And I understand what they’re saying. It would be something very different. But those same people were telling me that Trump could not be president months ago, until Trump showed he had staying power in the polls. We don’t know anything anymore. But what is clear is that Ben Carson is formidable. I would suggest that in this instance (as in many instances actually) the quiet man may emerge to be stronger than the loud man. Maybe he already he is.
And here’s something else for Republican voters to think about. Wouldn’t a Carson-Rubio ticket, or vice-versa, someone from the inside and someone from the outside, do more to destroy the despicable identity politics the Democratic Party has been exploiting to everyone’s detriment for generations than just about anything you could think of? It would upend all the reactionary nonsense Obama has stood for on symbolism alone. Worth pondering, no?
And, as Steve Jobs would say (hey, there’s a movie coming out), ONE MORE THING: Joe Trippi — a smart liberal pundit who is not a bad guy — has written an L.A. Times oped today insisting “No, pundits, Hillary is not collapsing.” Maybe he’s right. Maybe Sanders and Biden can’t really overcome her, unless, of course, she’s indicted. But the essence of what Joe T. is saying is that the ethnic (read: black) vote will save Hillary after she goes down in white-bread Iowa and New Hampshire, where her numbers look really bad. That, however, is all the more reason to put Carson on the Republican ticket (if he doesn’t get there by himself, which he well might). Ben would DESTROY Hillary in the general election. Besides the fact that he’s authentically black, as opposed to “Clinton black,” Ben’s already got Kanye West on his side. Game over!
Roger L. Simon – Co-founder and CEO Emeritus of PJ Media and PJTV – is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and multi-award winning novelist. He is covering the election at Diary of a Mad Voter. You can find him on Twitter @rogerlsimon.
@eddriscoll’s artwork above was adapted from the climax of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Shorter answers, get right on GUNS..!
A Cruz/Carson ticket would be hard to beat. I don’t think Carson is ready for the big desk but he’s clearly a fast learner.
Carson spoke a Spring Arbor college a few days ago to a crowd of 3000 which is about 200 more than the entire population of the town.
More GOPe/RINO media trying to push Carson (or Carly) as (faux) conservatives to try to bring down Trump’s support.
His response to the Muslim question HELPED his campaign a lot, despite what the pundits said.
Agreed. I'm almost 100% on board with this platform, but his gun control stance concerns me.
Strange times.
Quinnipiac Sept. 24 National Poll
Carson 49% Clinton 42%
Bush 44% Clinton 42%
Fiorina 44% Clinton 43%
Trump 43% Clinton 45%
Florida Poll Sept. 23
Carson 51.7% Clinton 39.5%
Rubio 50.4% Clinton 42.2%
Bush 49.1% Clinton 40.9%
Trump 45.9% Clinton 44.5%
Elon University National Poll Sept. 21
Carson 53% Clinton 41%
Bush 46% Clinton 43%
Clinton 48% Trump 41%
At least Carson has some brains. Not like that makes any difference to the average voter.
I did see the first Republican bumper sticker for president yesterday. It was a Ben Carson sticker.
What has the good Dr. run, other than a small practice?
How many people has he forged into a team to get things done - big things?
I like him personally. I don’t see him as the leader of a country.
I don’t like Trump as much, personally. I do see him as a leader who will get things done.
Trump is a faux conservative.
Are those polls of likely or registered voters?
The good doctor has run a small practice?
He rose from abject poverty to taking half of kids’ brains out.
Trump inherited millions from his father. And he runs a bunch of fake MLM schemes to rip people off to boot.
Carson has about as much executive experience as Obama had in 2008. Recall that Obama’s claim to executive experience was from running his presidential campaign.
Another OJT for president?
As I said before. I’d like Dr. Carson to head the HHS and help craft a better healthcare plan as well as dismantle Obamacare.
Speak softly and carry a big stick.
Elon - Registered voters planning to vote.
Quinnipiac - Registered voters.
Florida - Likely voters.
Executive experience - Jimmy Carter.
Well that would imply that ‘rats are racist.
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