New national polling points to GOP surprises

[applegrove]

New national polling points to GOP surprises

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-national-polling-points-gop-surprises

by Steve Benen MSNBC

"SNIP..............


But it’s Jeb Bush’s difficulties that stand out for me.





In the 2012 race for the GOP nomination, several candidates briefly enjoyed “frontrunner” status. It’s a detail polling experts frequently cite while explaining why early national polling should be taken with a grain of salt – Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and even Rick Santorum each led in national Republican polling, for at least a little while, before Mitt Romney eventually won his party’s nomination with relative ease.



Take a moment, however, to revisit this chart showing national GOP polling from that race. You can see the bumps for the also-rans, but notice that Romney – shown in the image with a red line – was consistently a strong second, watching rivals fade in and out of the spotlight, while his support never really faltered.



Now consider Jeb Bush, the new establishment favorite, four years later. The former Florida governor kicked off his exploratory committee in December 2014, and after eight months on the campaign trail, despite all kinds of money and support from the GOP establishment, the new Fox poll shows Jeb falling short of double digits, trailing a retired neurosurgeon with strange conspiracy theories and a former reality-show host who accused Mexican immigrants of being rapists.



..............SNIP"

[Doctor_J]

1. Should be a slam unk to hold the white house

We need a candidate who excites people to voting for dems all the way down the ticket.

[Fred Sanders]

2. Why all the focus on the candidates? What about some focus on the crazy GOP Iowa voters being

pandered to....what a stupid way to pick one of two choices for a national President...having to pander to an all white little slice of Fundie hell.

[murielm99]

3. I don't consider Iowa fun die hell. n/t

[Gman]

4. This will be hard for the GOP to beat in Iowa