So this poll is correct? But the straw poll.... no no no, that’s way off. We need to disregard that.
/sarcasm
And same goes for vice versa. Let this play out. Cain has looked like the stronger candidate as of late. Whether Perry makes a comeback is up to him. He hasn’t impressed me. But who knows. Still a bit to go yet.
No need to disregard straw poll. It just means Perry needs to brush up and get on top of his game. Cain won the Florida straw poll fair and square - based on the merits - not on tearing down Perry.
Who said that??? Both polls are valid for what they are. Cain had a great showing at the debate and was rewarded for it in the Straw Poll. I'm happy for him...I love the guy. But Rick Perry is still the strongest candidate we have...as this poll indicates. I think Cain's straw pooll number will give him more visability and boost him from 3rd tier and easily ignored to 2nd tier, hard to ignore. It's still early and a lot can happen. As my tag line indicates I think Perry and Cain would make an excellent ticket.
I think Perry likes Cain too. These two could do some good things.
I would also ask all Perry supporters to avoid bad mouthing Cain. He will get all the bad mouthing he can handle if he looks like a threat to Palin and he will need all of us to defend the lies and smears that may come his way from that camp.
"Straw Polls" are simply polls of local political junkies that do politics as a hobby and get together to conduct a popularity contest. They are equivalent to taking a "Greatest Movie Ever Made" poll at a Star Trek convention.
Straw polls reward candidates with the most fired up, not necessarily the largest, bases. That is why most of the minor Straw Polls are won by Ron Paul.
Who wins a particular Straw Poll depends on the flavor of the political junkies in any particular part of the country which is why Cain won in Florida and Romney beat Cain like a rented mule, 51% to 9%, in Sunday's Michigan Straw Poll.
Winner of the Iowa Straw Poll: Michele Bachmann
Winner of the California Straw Poll: Ron Paul
Winner of the Pennsylvania Straw Poll: Rick Santorum
Winner of the Michigan Straw Poll: Mitt Romney
In short, Straw Polls tell you what the local political junkies in (insert state here) are thinking. Scientifically conducted polls such as Gallup and Rassmussen polls tell you what average voters throughout America are thinking.
Later in the week, as the results of other scientifically conducted polls polls come out, we will learned what the majority of average voters in America think after the last debate rather than only know what the political junkies at one meeting on Florida thought after the last debate.
That said, Perry got way too cocky and lazy and I read that he declined to engage in any special debate preparation. In the ridiculous "30 second sound bite" formats that pass for "debates" in America today, that is a fatal flaw.
My worry about Perry is that the problem may not only be laziness and that that problem is that he may, like Goerge W. Bush, not be able to explain his way out of a paper bag.
If Perry crashes and burns, the ultimate GOP nominee will most likely be Mitt Romney.