Yesterday the NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey was released. The poll was taken between October 6th and October 10th of 1,000 nationwide adults with a margin of error of 3.1%. The questions asked only of Republicans had 336 respondents with a margin of error of 5.35%. Here are how the Republicans rated their presidential choices (with the poll's August numbers in parentheses):
Herman Cain...............27% (5%)
Mitt Romney...............23% (23%)
Rick Perry...............16% (38%)
Ron Paul...............11% (9%)
Newt Gingrich...............8% (5%)
Michele Bachmann...............5% (8%)
Jon Huntsman...............3% (2%)
Rick Santorum...............1% (3%)
None of these...............1% (2%)
Not Sure...............5% (5%)
I personally wish this is how the race would finish up. I don't think President Obama would have any problem beating Cain in the general election. And I think a lot of the racists in the Republican Party might be convinced to just sit the election out and not vote -- which could be disastrous to the party's down-ballot candidates. But I don't see that happening. I think the establishment Republicans would be as unhappy with Cain as the racists, and those two groups will combine to see that he doesn't get the nomination.
The most important thing the poll shows is just how weak the candidacy of Mitt Romney really is. I know there are some pundits out there who are ready to hand him the nomination right now, but before I'll believe he is going to be the eventual winner I want to see some polls that have him showing support above the mid-twenties (which is where he's been stuck at for months now). There is only two and a half months left before the first caucus (in Iowa), and this race is still wide open. That's what makes it interesting.
Meanwhile, when all the poll respondents were questioned it showed the president is still ahead of all the Republicans (even though his approval rating is in the mid-forties). Here's how he stacks up against the top three:
Obama..........49%
Cain..........38%
Obama..........46%
Romney..........44%
Obama..........51%
Perry..........39%
The poll also showed the Republican position opposing the president's jobs bill could cost them some support. The people, by a significant majority, support the president's plan. Here are the numbers:
DO YOU SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOBS BILL?
Yes..........63%
No..........32%
Not sure..........4%
SHOULD TAXES BE RAISED ON THE WEALTHY AND CORPORATIONS?
Yes..........64%
No..........31%
Not sure..........2%
DO YOU SUPPORT THE WALL STREET DEMONSTRATORS?
Support...............37%
Oppose...............18%
No opinion...............25%
Haven't heard about it...............20%
I had a talk with my brother (a dyed-in-the-wool liberal) about this very topic last night (I called to wish him a happy birthday). He's also hoping that it'll be Cain v. Obama, mainly because of what it would say about race in America. I agreed, stating that it would be a fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. With two African-Americans running against each other, it would no longer be about "the color of their skin, but the content of their character."
ReplyDeleteI think Herman Cain has his faults as presidential candidate - most notably lack of foreign policy experience and a tendency to sometimes stick his foot in his mouth. But although I'm not all that excited about his candidacy, there's no other candidate in the race that excites me any more than him.
And he certainly excites me more than the incumbent.