Friday, May 15, 2015

A CURIOUSLY TIMED POLL SHOWS BEN CARSON TIED FOR THE GOP LEAD

This is a surprise:
Following a trio of Republican campaign announcements last week, Ben Carson leaps to the top spot of GOP presidential candidates in the latest Fox News poll tied with presumed GOP front-runner Jeb Bush....

Both Bush and Carson sit atop the Fox poll at 13 percent each among Republican primary voters. That's a seven-point bounce for Carson who was at just 6 percent in the same poll in April.
Or maybe it's not really a surprise, given what we're told in this story (from Crooks and Liars, reprinted from The Washington Times):
GOP Explores Special Debate Rules For Carson, Fiorina

Republicans face a tough task in trying to craft rules for their presidential primary debates - and in particular, making sure they write the rules so that Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, who are running well behind in the polls, find a place on the stage....

The prospect of Ms Fiorina, the only major announced woman candidate in the field, and Mr. Carson, the only black candidate, being shut out is worrisome to Republicans.

"It doesn't play well into the Republican narrative if those people are not on the stage," said Patrick Griffin, a GOP strategist with Purple Strategies. "The party needs to be reaching out to all kinds of constituencies."

... "We are completely confident that Dr. Carson's campaign and candidacy will 'qualify' him for the sanctioned debates," said Doug Watts, a Carson spokesman.
First, the obvious point: Is the RNC willing to shoehorn Fiorina and Carson into the debates by, y'know, affirmative action? It sure seems that way.

But maybe that won't be necessary. If a few pollsters show the two gaining ground, affirmative action won't be necessary. And, well, what do you know: Carson, at least, is suddenly soaring in the Fox poll. Will Fiorina shoot to the top in a subsequent Fox poll? Or maybe a Rasmussen poll? Or some other ideologically friendly survey -- a mysterious internal GOP poll that's leaked to the press, perhaps?

Hard to know. Maybe the well-heeled Fiorina will be able to arrange a "spontaneous" outpouring of support in the Iowa Straw Poll. Whatever the mechanism, I'm sure we'll get a wave of phony Carlymania just in time for the debate lineup to be finalized.

2 comments:

Victor said...

It's easy to skew a poll to give you the results you want.

The problem for conservatives is that they eventually believe their own skewed polls.

Hence, Rove's FOX rant on election night in 2012!
A classic case of self-delusion!!!

mlbxxxxxx said...

IMO, Carson has the potential to be the perfect VP candidate for someone like Bush. However, the longer he is in the race, the more likely it is he is going to embarrass himself and the party and spoil his VP chances. He needs to get out early but polls like this are going to make it hard for him to see the truth since he has a tenuous grip on reality on his best day.

Also, weird Carson factoid -- he lost a couple of teeth in the past few days. One eating scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs. Seems bizarre for someone who clearly is not a meth-head.