Posted on 04/06/2015 1:40:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It was only weeks ago that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker emerged as a prospective 2016 Republican presidential candidate who might be best positioned to unite a fractious GOP. Walker’s ostensive ability to appeal to both the Republican Party’s tea party wing and the coastal “establishment” faction indicated that Walker might enter the primary field a prohibitive favorite. Some speculated that he could run as strong a campaign in Iowa as he would run in New Hampshire. What looked like an open field for the GOP ahead of 2016 suddenly began to appear virtually closed.
Polls of the national GOP primary electorate – an admittedly fictitious animal — still indicate that Walker enjoys Jeb Bush levels of support from Republican voters, but that backing has begun to ebb as voters learn more about the Wisconsin governor. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York noted that there is probably a correlation between Walker’s lack of name recognition among Republicans and his relatively high levels of support.
For a candidate who starts out with little national recognition, a campaign is a long process of telling voters who he is. With the general public — and all three polls cited above were of the public, not just Republicans — Walker is still a mystery for a large number of people. Even some Republicans who know of Walker and like him base their opinion on what they know about Walker’s stand against public-sector unions in Wisconsin, and little beyond that. Despite all the attention the media has paid to the campaign so far, Walker is still starting out when it comes to explaining to voters who he is and why he’s running.
And while Walker is defining himself for the Republican electorate, other candidates who have already established their brand are surging.
According to the results of a Monmouth University survey of the national GOP electorate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) now polls competitively with Walker at 11 percent support each. In that survey, Jeb Bush maintains a nominal lead at 13 percent.
What’s more, Cruz and Walker have similar favorability ratings among GOP voters. Monmouth found 49 percent of the Republican electorate views Cruz favorability while 44 percent have a similar opinion of Walker.
While Monmouth noted that Walker continues to enjoy a significant amount of support from conservatives and his favorability ratings have markedly increased in recent months, “nearly half of Republican voters in the country don’t know enough about him yet to form an opinion.”
But the most interesting finding in this Monmouth survey came when the pollsters narrowed the field to just Cruz and Walker. In a head-to-head matchup, Republican voters backed Cruz over Walker at 41 to 36 percent.
The Scott Walker boomlet that characterized the early months of 2015 has not entirely dissipated, but the surge of support for Ted Cruz that accompanied his presidential announcement has elevated him to the top tier of 2016 candidates. According to this poll, Cruz at least has the capacity at this stage of the race to unseat Walker as the singular anti-Bush.
I don’t fully trust Walker, so Cruz is my first choice. However, I don’t have a second choice I trust who is likely to run. Walker is definitely my #2, and I hope people won’t attack him. Build Cruz up instead of tearing Walker down.
name recognition is the name of the game these days and Walker has had more time to develop his name recognition.
I like Scott Walker. I like Ted Cruz. I think either one would make a much better President then anyone else currently out there, and far superior to what we have. We as Conservatives we should refrain from denigrating a fellow conservative because we happen to like another candidate. Sing the praises of the one you like by all means, but don’t bash the other. The Dem-Marxist’s feed on that.
Walker for governor of Wisconsin received much establishment help.
For national office, he should count on nil.
I’m not as keen on ethanol as I am on amnesty and RFRA; but given that Iowa has gone DemocRAT in 5 of the last 6 presidential elections, I wouldn’t be terribly sympathetic toward it were I a Republican candidate.
Walker’s sellout at the Iowa Ag Summit and the Liz Mair fiasco are what broke the deal for me.
Go Cruz!
NOT BUSH!!!
Here are my choices:
Walker and/or Cruz either order Prez/VP
Supposedly, he favors Ted Cruz. But I am not going to hold that against Ted Cruz. Cruz still remains my first choice.
But I'd be happy with Scott Walker as well.
” I want to see these guys debate throughout the summer and fall...”
Oh please NO!!! I dont think we can take another 4000 debates.
It wasn’t so much his stand on ethanol that was the problem, so much as how he handled it. He flipped on the issue right before the Iowa Ag Summit just to pander to local farmers.
It hints at a character problem.
To me he has demonstrated quite clearly that he is not a leader.
I do not see him attempting to lead or demonstrating leadership qualities on anything at all.
And by having a closed door meeting with the chamber of commerce, he has demonstrated that he is a politician.
AT this point I am not able to trust him, and I am further unable to see what leadership qualities he has that would make me want to vote for him as president.
Agree!
How was a “ping” to several people “denigrating” or “bashing” Scott Walker or anyone else? Do you think I work at Hot Air?
See my #33.
It will be interesting to see what impact the Paul announcement will have on tomorrow’s polling numbers. I don’t like him for POTUS, but one has to wonder if it will chip away at Cruz’s lead.
I like Scott Walker. I like Ted Cruz. I think either one would make a much better President then anyone else currently out there, and far superior to what we have. We as Conservatives we should refrain from denigrating a fellow conservative because we happen to like another candidate. Sing the praises of the one you like by all means, but don’t bash the other. The Dem-Marxist’s feed on that.
************
Good point. A choice between Walker and Cruz would make me wonder if I had been transported to a different planet.
Oh please NO!!! I dont think we can take another 4000 debates.
*****************************************************************************************************
I agree!! It's particularly painful when they have a huge number of “candidates” spread across the stage looking, in a panoramic view, like an assemblage of midgets.
Let's hope so. From your lips to God's ear.
Cruz has been in the race for a little while....Walker (future candidate) hasn’t announced yet. Governors are people who make policy, advance an agenda, control their state National-guard, govern the state police, control the state school system.......senators vote on things that other people do.
Ted Cruz was the North American debating champion in both categories and the Princeton annual novice championship is named in his honor. Cruz was also a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship, making him Princeton’s highest-ranked debater at the championship.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.