Where are all these Carson supporters? I do not know anyone who has Carson at the top of their list. None of my co-workers, church friends, neighbors, no one has said to me that they will vote for Carson. Even here, on Free Republic there is hardly anyone talking about Carson.
The only name I hear is Trump. No one, absolutely no one, I talk to is supporting Carson, Rubio or anyone else. It’s Trump!
I see more people supporting Carson on my facebook feed than any other cancidate besides Clinton.
My conservative friends seem to be going Carson and the liberal ones Clinton.
Im in California and I have lots of evangelical friends from church. Then I have lots of friends from Texas where I grew up.
I know one, but he’s starting to go wobbly on Ben the more he speaks.
I'm asking this question not because I support Carson (I believe the best person for the US and the American Constitution is Cruz), but because it is something I saw on FR when Obama was first running for president. The problem of having a circular feed-loop. When Obama went against McCain, many said that they knew no one supporting Obama. None of their friends, none of their Co-workers, none of their neighbors. The issue with that thinking is that people tend to be friends with those that are similar to them, and thus if one is a super-liberal Bernie Sanders supporter, their friends will be similar. Thus, obviously none of their friends supported Obama. What about co-workers? People normally talk sensitive issues like politics with like minded Co-workers, making them similar to friends and thus likely to have similar views. It would be rare for a Hillary supporter to be sharing a sandwich with a Cruz supporter at the water cooler discussing the merits/perils of Obamacare. So on and so forth, and thus I told people Obama's support couldn't be gauged based on support from 'friends, family, neighbors' etc since that was a closed-loop system.
Same thing about Carson. Using FR as an example, it is a strong Trump support area (with Cruz support being 'okay and acceptable, but maybe he would be best in the Supreme Court'). Anyone outside Trump and (to a lesser extent) Cruz is treated with anything from disdain (Carson - the sleepy elf who 'supports abortion,' which is not true) to dislike (Rubio the amnesty chap) to insults (look at Fiorina's face) to mockery (Bush and his other RINO pals, all of whom I have to say deserve all the mockery they can get). Thus, you'll not find any support for Carson on FR. At most you'll see people who don't mind him, but anyone who would support him (or anyone else) would be raked over the coals as FR is a closed-loop system.
In much the same way that DU appears to be a closed-loop system for Bernie Sanders, with Hillary supporters getting a cold reception and even getting banned (hilarious to see socialists getting amazed that they are getting banned by their fellow communists).
What do I think about Carson?
He's getting the same attention as Trump (and to a lesser extent, Cruz) of being an 'outsider.' Which is why Trump, Carson and Cruz together account for well over 50% of potential voters. The difference is that (a) Carson has a higher pool of evangelicals who identify with him more than Trump (and don't believe Huckabee has a chance), (b) women (the ones who are not Dems and thus will not go for Hillary, but find Fiorina robotic), and (c) those who would support Trump but don't like Trump/his delivery and thus see Carson as a Trump-lite (and this group has strong overlap with the evangelicals supporting Carson, if not largely the same people). By the way, the last group would have gone to Cruz if Carson wasn't there - Cruz is stuck between Trump sucking away half of the people who would have voted for him (Trump simply came out with a stronger border-measures proposition than Cruz, for example) and Carson took the other half.
Does that mean Carson's numbers are not being manipulated? Anything is possible, but I'd bet that he DOES have strong support, coming from those who like Trump's message but don't like Trump, as well as evangelicals. Whether one wants to say Carson's numbers are fake or not, what is factual is that (a) Carson is definitely in the top 2 for now, and (b) any closed-loop system will give an erroneous result when used as a measure for 'popularity.'
Again, if many posters were right in 2008, Obama wouldn't even have won 5 States. After all, they knew no one who supported him!
I raise this because I believe Hillary will be a formidable opponent, even though many here don't think so. Additionally, even though I support Cruz, I think the only person who has a chance to defeat her is Trump. But hey ...according to many she'll not even be the nominee, and if she is she'll be 'easy' to beat. Good thing President Trump thought that about the 'empty suit' junior Senator from Illinois.
I’m puzzled too....though, noticed on FB, Carson has 4.5 mil followers, Trump 4.1 mil, Cruz 1.5 mil
That's a really good question. I know of two, possibly three, people who are Carson supporters. That's out of hundreds of *real* friends as well as hundreds of Facebook "friends." Two or three. That's it. I know more people who go out of their way to make fun of him than who support him.