Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Palin Wins Townhall.com Presidential Straw Poll

After tens of thousands of votes cast in the Jan. Townhall/HotAir GOP presidential Straw Poll, former AK Governor Sarah Palin took the victory with 22% of the vote. Coming in 2nd was former MA Governor Mitt Romney with just over 14%.

Sarah Palin - 22.27%
Mitt Romney - 14.48%
Ron Paul - 11.52%
Mike Huckabee - 10.76%
Newt Gingrich - 10.03%
Herman Cain - 7.14%
Chris Christie - 5.55%
Tim Pawlenty - 3.02%
Jim DeMint - 2.97%
Mitch Daniels - 2.90%
John Bolton - 2.57%
Undecided - 2.55%
John Thune - 1.55%
Haley Barbour - 1.03%
Rick Santorum - <1%
Gary Johnson - <1

Results are HERE

22 comments:

Barry Cuda said...

This poll was a hard poll to figure out.

It kept giving me time outs after every 10 votes. But we palin supporters prevailed!

BOSMAN said...

Congratulations Sarah!

According to Barry, you and your supporters EARNED IT!

illinoisguy said...

This was worthy of a posting?

Anonymous said...

Let the little Mama Grizzlies have their fun!

-Martha

corep said...

wow this is biggie.. You pulled a ron paul and won an internet poll.

tough few days for palin but shes not out of it yet. she can rebound but its gonna take more than "new media" posts.

what is she gonna do to change the ever increasing mantra that she is the worst GOP candidate against Obama?

Revolution 2012 said...

Why is this called a 'Straw Poll'?

I always thought the term 'Straw was reserved for IN PERSON, live voting

This was just an ON-LINE Poll. With all the baggage that goes with ON-LINE polls.

I seem to remember that being pointed when Romney won the on-line Fox Poll.

Right Wingnut said...

This was just an ON-LINE Poll. With all the baggage that goes with ON-LINE polls.

I seem to remember that being pointed when Romney won the on-line Fox Poll.
- Rev

That Fox poll you mentioned is still up on Brett Baier's page. Palin currently has a 40,000 vote lead. The astroturf campaign waged by Mitt Romney Central was not enough to keep Mittens on top. The 12 for 12 poll warranted not ONE, but TWO blog posts, plus an online poll on this site. Maybe we should conduct another poll. Will Fox announce Palin's huge lead on-air? What do you say, Bos?

BOSMAN said...

RWN,

People abandoned the Fox poll when it was clear that:

1. They would not announce that Romney won by 30,000+

and/or

2. They knew Fox would keep it up way past it's relevancy and end of the 12 for '12 series, in hopes that people would forget about it.

THEY DID!

ConMan said...

Here are 2 question for Palin supporters:

Which has more trust worthy results an on-line poll, or a National poll by a reputable company?

Which do you think Palin wishes she was winning?

Right Wingnut said...

The official pollster for the Daily Kos is a reputable company? No, I'll take my chances with Sarah. The pollsters had Reagan losing to Carter by 25 points 8 months prior to the election.

Doug NYC GOP said...

That "25 point Carter lead" is a bit of a stretch. At what point was that lead? Had to be very, very early, perhaps even 1979. When Reagan ended the primaries he was actually ahead.

But all that is beside the point. Palin is no Reagan. Need to ditch that scenario.

Corep said...

RWN-
so what does palin have to do to change her national numbers in head to head with obama? i mean she puts solid GOP states into play ?

what can she change?

Right Wingnut said...

From Time Magazine, March 31st 1980...

Nation: But Can Reagan Be Elected?

Yes, say Republicans, as they assess Carter's weaknesses

For several decades, it has been an article of faith among politicians and political analysts that no candidate can win a U.S. presidential election unless he can dominate the broad center of the spectrum, that all candidates on the edges of the left or right are doomed. Barry Goldwater's "extremism . . . is no vice" campaign of 1964 provides the classic evidence, reinforced by George McGovern's 1972 defeat in 49 out of 50 states. And since G.O.P. Front Runner Ronald Reagan relies upon a base of support that is on the far right wing of the Republican Party, some experts have long declared that if he wins the nomination, the G.O.P. would simply be repeating the suicidal Goldwater campaign. Ex-President Gerald Ford left no doubt about his views when he warned last month: "A very conservative Republican cannot win in a national election."

But last week, after Ford gave up his own ambitions and Reagan's nomination took on a look of inevitability, a reassessment was under way across the country. The consensus was that although many hazards lie ahead, Ronald Reagan indeed has a chance to be elected as the 40th President of the U.S.

National opinion polls continue to show Carter leading Reagan by an apparently comfortable margin of about 25%. They also show that more moderate Republicans like Ford would run better against the President. This suggests that Reagan is not the strongest G.O.P. choice for the November election and that he clearly faces an uphill battle.

[...]


Sound familiar?

Right Wingnut said...

Written by Joshua Livestro...

Time Magazine: But can Palin be elected?

For several decades, it has been an article of faith among politicians and political analysts that no candidate can win a U.S. presidential election unless he can dominate the broad center of the spectrum, that all candidates on the edges of the left or right are doomed. Barry Goldwater’s “extremism . . . is no vice” campaign of 1964 provides the classic evidence, reinforced by George McGovern’s 1972 defeat in 49 out of 50 states. And since G.O.P. Front Runner Sarah Palin relies upon a base of support that is on the far right wing of the Republican Party, some experts have long declared that if she wins the nomination, the G.O.P. would simply be repeating the suicidal Goldwater campaign.

(…)

National opinion polls continue to show Obama leading Palin by an apparently comfortable margin of about 25%. They also show that more moderate Republicans like Romney would run better against the President. This suggests that Palin is not the strongest G.O.P. choice for the 2012 election and that she clearly faces an uphill battle.

(…)

If popular unhappiness with domestic and world problems finally comes to rest at Obama’s doorstep, voters may begin to see all sorts of previously invisible virtues in Sarah Palin.

(…)

Palin cannot hope to win, however, unless she moves beyond the hard-line conservative base that has sustained her since she first appeared on the national political scene as a spokesman for McCain himself. She has no experience in Washington politics or foreign affairs. Both Congress and the federal bureaucracy are as unfathomable to her as they were to Obama. Indeed one of Palin’s major supporters in the Senate notes that the Alaskan is uncomfortable even visiting Washington.

(…)

Worse perhaps than the verbal gaffe is Palin’s relentlessly simple-minded discussion of complex problems.


Full disclosure: I may have changed a few names here and there. It’s not actually Gov. Palin this Time Magazine article’s talking about here, but Ronald Reagan. Yes, the Gipper was really running 25 points behind Carter as late as March 1980 – a mere eight months before the election. Simple statements, no experience in DC politics or foreign affairs, supported only by the rightwing fringe – completely unelectable, that Reagan fellow, wasn’t he?

Doug NYC GOP said...

Good article on Reagan...you should read it very carefully. Many a sentence about Reagan which do not parallel to Gov. Palin.

I'll grant you the 25 pt. claim, although polling back then was not nearly as extensive and constant as it is today. They could have been taken when Carter was enjoying a surge after Iran and Afghanistan, as the article suggests. Reagan was also getting 30% Dem and Indie voters, per the article.

Bill589 said...

Sarah Palin has gained over 60,000 new memberships to her Facebook page this past week. That beats all these online/straw polls.

Anonymous said...

corep, Palin's numbers will begin to increase after she announces that she will run and then after any subsequent, positive, debate performances.

I think what you are seeing in these poll numbers is the ability for polls to create an outcome as much as they're capable of predicting an outcome.

IMO.

jerseyrepublican

Anonymous said...

Pity that we don't conduct our national elections via facebook. That's her ONLY chance of winning. and it's a slim one at that.

the adult in the party has arrived. He was on Piers Morgan last night (on a network Palin refuses to even utter), the view, Letterman and today that same adult will be on Hugh Hewitt and Laura Ingrahm. He does not need facebook bill. He has the National audience.

Anonymous said...

Anon, are you insinuating that if Palin runs for President that she will not go on national television? Keep wishing.

jerseyrepublican

BOSMAN said...

"are you insinuating that if Palin runs for President that she will not go on national television? Keep wishing."

====

I'm sure she'll do TV interviews. PROVIDING that they meet her accommodations.

bendable straws and the questions ahead of time.

Ann said...

How can this be a valid poll when you are allowed to vote several times?

Anonymous said...

I can see Palin winning a Townhall poll easily; many of the people who read Townhall and Hot Air like her immensely. However, the Republican party includes others who are less likely to vote in a Townhall poll--many others. It's a little too early to cry victory or defeat for Sarah Palin.

AZ