Free Republic

Given that the deadline to file for the New Hampshire ballot was three days ago, I’m not sure why the Globe felt this was necessary. Maybe they wanted to show people how soft Trump’s support in the state really is, despite all of the polls there showing him leading? If so, it would have been nice to make that point when Romney was still viable as a potential candidate. Right now, looking at Rubio’s relative weakness in New Hampshire, I’ll bet a lot of establishmentarians who are worried about Trumpmentum would think hard about Romney 3.0 as a last-ditch bid...

For Republicans fearful of Donald Trump becoming their party’s presidential nominee, a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters offers a three-word solution: Willard Mitt Romney. If the former Massachusetts governor were added to the mix of the 14 other Republican candidates running in the Feb. 9 first-in-the-nation presidential primary, New Hampshire voters would, if the election were held now, give him a 2-to-1 win over Trump, the leader of the field. Romney, who said as recently as last week that he is not interested in running, did not file for the New Hampshire primary...

A large majority of Latinos view Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump negatively, according to a new poll, and more than half believe his recent comments about Mexican immigrants were racist and inappropriate. Trump, who is leading the Republican field in polls ahead of the first debate this week, has drawn both headlines and scorn for his incendiary comments about Mexicans and immigrants, saying during his announcement speech in June that Mexico is “sending people that have lots of problems… They are bringing crime. They’re rapists.” A survey of 250 Latinos found that 75% view the television star and real estate...

More than 60 percent of Americans back a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living here illegally — winning support from majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, according to a sweeping new poll to be released Tuesday. When it comes to undocumented immigrants, 62 percent of Americans believe they should be allowed to gain citizenship if they meet certain requirements, while 17 percent would support green cards but not citizenship for them. Meanwhile, 19 percent think the undocumented immigrants should be deported. Split down by party, 70 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of political independents and 51 percent of Republicans said...

The Pew Center has some really neat stuff in its new poll of Republican voters — including this particular chart showing the favorability ratings among some major Republican figures. There are a few surprises about the potential presidential candidates. One thing that surprises me is that Rand Paul has such low negatives overall, especially after he’s been putting himself out there so much lately and shamelessly running for the presidency. Another is that Chris Christie is liked about as much by Tea Party types as he is by mainline Republicans — although the former are more likely to view him...

A majority of American voters want the Boy Scouts to lift its ban against gay members and leaders, a new Quinnipiac poll finds. The Boy Scouts of America announced last week that it was considering changing its policy of banning gay scouts and troop leaders. On Wednesday the organization said that decision would be delayed until a national meeting in May. In the Quinnipiac poll, 55 percent of respondents said the scouts should drop the ban, while 33 percent said it should remain. There is a significant gender gap in the results. Women back gay scouts by a 61 to...

The Family Research Council poll was conducted by Wenzel Strategies from Aug. 27 to Aug. 28, testing 829 voters for a margin of error of plus or minus 3.38 percent. The sample was 32.7 percent Democrats, 34.1 percent Republicans and 33.2 percent independents. I don’t remotely believe that Akin is winning right now, but I also don’t believe that McCaskill’s double-digit margin will survive September. Hence Reince Priebus’s conundrum. Roy Blunt also said this morning that he still thinks Akin will quit, but I’m not sure he himself quite believes it. Supposedly people are leaning on Huckabee too to get...

What was once a 15 point spread has closed to 4 points. PPP reports: The Republican race for President in Michigan has tightened considerably over the last week, with what was a 15 point lead for Rick Santorum down to 4. He leads with 37% to 33% for Mitt Romney, 15% for Ron Paul, and 10% for Newt Gingrich.The tightening over the last week is much more a function of Romney gaining than Santorum falling. Santorum's favorability spread of 67/23 has seen no change since our last poll, and his share of the vote has dropped only 2 points...

The latest Insider Advantage / Newsmax poll of likely South Carolina voters, taken on Sunday, shows Mitt Romney opening up a commanding 11-point lead… and that was before Jon Huntsman dropped out of the race and endorsed Romney. Hell, Huntsman’s still a point ahead of Rick Perry in this poll. Mitt Romney - 32 Newt Gingrich - 21 Ron Paul - 14 Rick Santorum – 13 Jon Huntsman – 6 Rick Perry – 5 Strangely, according to the poll breakdown, Newt Gingrich scored exactly zero among the youngest cohort of voters, ages 18-29. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were tied...

Santorum's so-called surge is all but gone. Huntsman is catching up.

Mitt Romney broke through the tea party barrier Monday, winning that segment's vote in a New Hampshire poll. Romney beat Ron Paul among tea partiers, 29 percent to 21 percent, the Public Policy Polling survey reported. It was the first time Romney has carried a plurality of tea party voters, with whom the former Massachusetts governor has had chilly relations. And in a possible leading indicator heading to Florida, Romney garnered 50 percent of the senior vote in the New Hampshire poll conducted by the Democratic-leaning PPP. Overall, Romney was the choice of 35 percent of PPP respondents. Paul garnered...

Fox News Poll: Romney Bests Gingrich in Matchups Against Obama By Dana Blanton December 08, 2011 | Newt Gingrich has increased his lead over Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican nomination, yet the former House speaker is weaker than Romney with the general electorate. In a hypothetical matchup, Barack Obama is just 2 percentage points ahead of Romney (44-42 percent), according to a Fox News national poll released Thursday. Three weeks ago, Romney had a narrow 2-point edge over Obama in the head-to-head matchup (44-42 percent). In every other matchup of the two candidates over the past year,...

WASHINGTON — The Republican presidential race is being shaken up again, with Mitt Romney retaking the lead, Newt Gingrich surging into second place, and Herman Cain dropping to third place, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll released Friday. Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/11/11/130058/poll-romney-retakes-lead-in-gop.html#ixzz1dPxOg7Op

A majority of voters in the three most-important swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania disapprove of the job President Barack Obama is doing and most believe he does not deserve to be reelected. The voters’ most-favored Republican: Mitt Romney, who is statistically tied in theoretical matchups with Obama. Only in Florida, though, does Romney show a lead against Obama by 45-42 percent split. "Of these three swing states President Obama carried in 2008, Florida was the biggest surprise and had the closest margin," Pollster Peter A. Brown said in a written statement. "Florida is shaping up to be the...

Obama leads Romney, 46-43, down a hair from a five-point advantage (47-42) in August. He has also declined against newly risen Herman Cain, from a 14-point lead (50-36) to half that (49-42). Obama leads Ron Paul by nine, 48-39; Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann each by 11 (50-39 and 51-40, respectively); and Newt Gingrich by 14 (52-38). All of these changes except the one against Cain are statistically insignificant, but it still makes the state closer than the president would like. Then again, Obama’s huge 2008 win was unprecedented in recent history. Al Gore won this swing state by less...

By Steven Shepard October 26, 2011 | 4:00 PM | 762 Comments Share Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads in new CNN/Time polls of the first four states on the Republican presidential nominating calendar -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida -- though in Iowa and South Carolina, Herman Cain runs a close second. Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, runs second in each of the four states, and in three of the four states, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, runs third. Notably, the best that Texas Gov. Rick Perry can manage in any of the states is a...

The new Washington Post/ABC News poll confirms what the Florida straw poll showed last month: Rick Perry is bleeding support from activist conservatives. In the national survey, Perry’s share of the GOP primary vote has fallen to 16 percent – a tie with Herman Cain and 9 points behind Mitt Romney, who draws support from a quarter of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Continue Reading Ron Paul is in fourth place, with 11 percent, followed by Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich tied at 7 percent. Rick Santorum takes 2 percent and Jon Huntsman takes half that. The apparent explanation for Perry’s...

Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Willard “Mitt” Romney has a two-to-one lead in New Hampshire over newly announced, much-ballyhooed Texas Gov. Rick Perry, according to a new poll for the New Hampshire Journal. Romney scores 36 percent to 18 percent for Perry in the test heat for the first-in-the-nation primary. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, scores 14 percent and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is at 10 percent. Bachmann has built a following among Iowa caucus-goers, but may not do so well when she arrives in the Granite State. Both registered Republicans and Independents are allowed to vote in New Hampshire. Romney, who owns a...

Link to the PDF of the latest FOX NEWS comprehensive Presidential election poll, released at 6PM ET Wednesday, August 10, 2011.

This was the poll that showed Pawlenty in second last week. Seems like Perry is really going to shake things up if he enters. Bachmann- 24% Perry- 16% Romney- 11% Pawlenty- 9% Others all below 5%, 23% Undecided. Crosstabs: http://www.theconservativejournalblog.com/2011/07/25/tcj-research-721-722-michele-bachmann-leads-others-fall-as-rick-perry-joins-iowa-caucus-race/