Surprise! Poll with ties to SEIU and Daily Kos says… Ron Paul getting close to leaders in Iowa

Hot Air ^

[mnehring]

Before you put too much stock in the most recent PPP poll, you may want to review this April 2011 Hill article:

A top union and a top liberal blog announced Tuesday that they’ll team up to sponsor polling through the 2012 elections. Daily Kos and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said they will join forces to conduct issue and campaign polling in key states and races over the next two years…

…The SEIU/Daily Kos poll will use Public Policy Polling (PPP), a Democratic firm that uses automated polling rather than live, over-the-phone survey methods. Moulitsas contracted with PPP in June of 2010 after severing ties with Research 2000, which faced allegations of producing faulty poll results.

So when you read news like this, take it with a grain of salt.

Oh my: Ron Paul within one point of Gingrich in Iowa? … “There has been some major movement in the Republican Presidential race in Iowa over the last week, with what was a 9 point lead for Newt Gingrich now all the way down to a single point. Gingrich is at 22% to 21% for Paul with Mitt Romney at 16%, Michele Bachmann at 11%, Rick Perry at 9%, Rick Santorum at 8%, Jon Huntsman at 5%, and Gary Johnson at 1%.”

Really? Methinks that the PPP poll is patently bogus. The Intrade prediction market, probably the best indicator of reality, has Gingrich trading at a 47% chance of winning Iowa versus 29% for Paul.

And let’s not forget who Ron Paul really is:

• A man who claims that bloodthirsty Islamist terrorists are morally equivalent to Americans?

• A man who vocally encourages the despicable 9/11 Truther movement?

• A man who embraces virulent anti-semites and is inspired by those who despise Jews?

• A man whose foreign policy prescriptions are so “far left” that they are outright dangerous?

• A man whose strongest supporters vilify Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Ed Meese, Sarah Palin, etc.?

• A man who despises Israel, a beacon of freedom in an otherwise barbaric Middle East?

• A man so power-hungry that he refuses to rule out a third-party run, which would very likely help reelect Barack Obama?

Jeffrey Lord offers the quintessential summary of Ron Paul for conservatives:

The Ron Paul campaign is really about re-educating America to what can only be called Neoliberalism. Which, based on the evidence and writings of its supporters, appears to be a thin gruel of free markets and non-interventionism seasoned heavily with anti-Semitism, morally obtuse Neo-Confederates, and an outspoken contempt for both conservatism and conservative leaders past and present.

I don’t care how well-organized the Paulbots are in Iowa. I put as much stock in PPP polling as I do in lunar cheese. No thinking Republican would ever cast a vote for a man who advocates a George McGovern foreign policy. Ever.

[OCCASparky]

Basically, when the Iowa caucuses and NH primary are done in a month, we'll know a few things:

--Paul has nowhere near the level of support many think. --PPP and other polling is as phony as a three-dollar bill.

Go ahead, Ronulans, flame away. Please tell me that he has more than 3-4 percent support when you take away the college kids who will vote for Obama in the general.

[JimRed]

And we would believe the results of a poll from this source, why?

[mnehring]

Please tell me that he has more than 3-4 percent support

I will predict he gets a consistent 8%-10%. That seems to be his usual maximum when it comes to votes and his machine has been working extra hard this season both to re-paint him and boots on the ground. I think he'll achieve trending along his last maximum.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks mnehring.

• Surprise! Poll with ties to SEIU and Daily Kos says... Ron Paul getting close to leaders in Iowa
• No, Ron Paul is not a threat to win the Iowa Caucuses
• Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich in statistical tie in latest Iowa poll
• PPP POLL BOMBSHELL: Ron Paul Is Close To A Win In Iowa
• Ron Paul is striking chords with Iowa GOP voters
• Iowa (InAdv): Gingrich 27, Paul 17, Perry 13, Romney 12, Bachmann 10
• Gingrich, Paul Virtually Tied for First Place in Iowa (PPP POLL: Newt-22, Paul-21, Mitt - 16)
• Ron Paul Ain't the Tea Party (Rush Limbaugh blasts Ron Paul)
• Times/CBS Poll: Gingrich Surges Ahead in Iowa (Newt - 31, Mitt - 17, Paul - 16)
• Gingrich leads, but Paul most likely to beat Obama in latest Iowa poll
• 'Fired' up: Paul & Huntsman refuse to attend Trump-led 'circus' debate...
• Cain's Endorsement, Bachmann Loses her NICHE (and Ron Paul's eyebrows)
• Ron Paul's army rises up as Palin gives Santorium thumbs up (Video)
• All of the candidates except Gingrich, Romney and Paul should drop out before Iowa

[apillar]

If Ron Paul actually won the nomination. I can guarantee the SOMEBODY (Trump, Romney, Gingrich, Etc.) would run 3rd party against him, and pull away a good chunk of the Republican base and most of the moderates in the process. If fact, I figure in a 3 way race for the Presidency, Paul would end up 3rd behind both Obama and the 3rd party challenger. I just don't see him getting more than 20% at the national level...

[Personal Responsibility]

He’ll probably pick up an extra point or two over his consistent 8-10 due to his message being perceived as “conservative”. Now that Cain, Bachmann, and Santorum are basically out of it, there is a perceived lack of a “conservative” in the race. Paul picks up some those “conservatives” who are looking for “Not Romney”.

[RockinRight]

He generally underperforms his poll numbers, because the demographic that supports him the heaviest tends not to get out to vote, since that would require putting down the bong and getting up off their mother’s couch.

[RockinRight]

Typical Ron Paul supporter (fans of That 70s Show will get this reference)

[Pravious]

“If Ron Paul actually won the nomination. I can guarantee the SOMEBODY (Trump, Romney, Gingrich, Etc.) would run 3rd party against him, and pull away a good chunk of the Republican base and most of the moderates in the process. “

Including me. Ron Paul is the only candidate who I would NEVER think of voting for. I agree with some of what he says, sure... but the part I DON’T agree with scares me spitless. This loon CANNOT be President.

[Oberon]

Including me. Ron Paul is the only candidate who I would NEVER think of voting for. I agree with some of what he says, sure... but the part I DON’T agree with scares me spitless. This loon CANNOT be President.

Though I'm a Ron Paul fan, I don't think he'll ever be president and I'm not sure he should be.

However, the Republican party could make Ron Paul just shrivel up and blow away if it would do just one thing: Field a credible candidate with Ron Paul's strengths and none of his weaknesses. A candidate who is a strong Constitutionalist, who believes in liberty, and who has a good understanding of foreign policy. Someone who isn't a Washington insider.

In short, someone who would actually do something to advance the Republican party platform. Someone who will do what the GOP claims it wants to do. How hard is that?

Do that, and Ron Paul's name will disappear from FR entirely, except as a curious footnote.

[Proud2BeRight]

The left will attempt to use Paul to diminish the other candidates then pull out the vile loony racist Ron Paul newsletters to finish him off after he has polluted the GOP.

[Dick Bachert]

Speaking of POLLS...

[Pravious]

Yes. Drudge is continuing to push that BS PPP poll, in a reprehensible attempt to change public perception that Paul is rising rapidly in the polls.