Ron Paul Head to Head With Obama in New Poll; The Ideas Matter, The Politics Don’t
Rassmussen Poll: Obama 42% – Ron Paul 41%
Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.
Ask the Political Class, though, and it’s a blowout. While 58% of Mainstream voters favor Paul, 95% of the Political Class vote for Obama.
But Republican voters also have decidedly mixed feelings about Paul, who has been an outspoken critic of the party establishment.
Obama earns 79% support from Democrats, but Paul gets just 66% of GOP votes. Voters not affiliated with either major party give Paul a 47% to 28% edge over the president.
Paul, an anti-big government libertarian who engenders unusually strong feelings among his supporters, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. But he continues to have a solid following, especially in the growing Tea Party movement.
Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters now consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement, an eight-point increase from a month ago. Another 10% say they are not a part of the movement but have close friends or family members who are.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) of all voters have a favorable opinion of Paul, while 30% view him unfavorably. This includes 10% with a very favorable opinion and 12% with a very unfavorable one. But nearly one-out-of-three voters (32%) are not sure what they think of Paul.
Perhaps tellingly, just 42% of Republican voters have a favorable view of him, including eight percent (8%) with a very favorable opinion. By comparison, 42% of unaffiliated voters regard him favorably, with 15% very favorable toward him.
Twenty-six percent (26%) of GOP voters think Paul shares the values of most Republican voters throughout the nation, but 25% disagree. Forty-nine percent (49%) are not sure.
Similarly, 27% of Republicans see Paul as a divisive force in the party, while 30% view him as a new direction for the GOP. Forty-two percent (42%) aren’t sure.
Among all voters, 19% say Paul shares the values of most Republican voters, and 27% disagree. Fifty-four percent (54%) are undecided.
Twenty-one percent (21%) of voters nationwide regard Paul as a divisive force in the GOP. Thirty-four percent (34%) say he is representative of a new direction for the party. Forty-five percent (45%) are not sure.
But it’s important to note than 75% of Republicans voters believe Republicans in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters throughout the nation over the past several years.
Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2008, is another Republican who has been bucking the party’s traditional leadership and was the keynote speaker at the recent Tea Party convention in Nashville. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Republican voters say Palin shares the values of most GOP voters throughout the nation. Just 18% of Republicans see Palin as a divisive force within the GOP.
Rasmussen Reports released survey findings yesterday that take a closer look at the political views of those who say they’re part of the Tea Party movement. Among other things, 96% of those in the movement think America is overtaxed, and 94% trust the judgment of the American people more than that of America’s political leaders.
When it comes to major issues confronting the nation, 48% of voters now say the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than Obama is. Forty-four percent (44%) hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.
Fifty-two percent (52%) believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Thirty-five percent (35%) of voters now think Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people. Nearly half (47%) of voters disagree and say a new party is not needed
If the Tea Party was organized as a political party, 34% of voters would prefer a Democrat in a three-way congressional race. In that hypothetical match-up, the Republican gets 27% of the vote with the Tea Party hopeful in third at 21%. However, if only the Democrat or Republican had a real chance to win, most of the Tea Party supporters would vote for the Republican.
Ron Paul: We can do better with peace than with war!
This is Ron Paul at a recent Southern Republican Leadership Conference:
People one Step Closer to Waking Up
The reason why I am showing all this is not that I have any particular hopes in Ron Paul in his potential function as a president or anything like that. Anybody who wants to see how much of a chance a fiscal conservative who supports limited government has once elected, just look to California.
But it is undeniable that he has inspired millions of people through the ideas of freedom and peace. And these ideas are really all that matters in the long run.
We can’t expect people to understand right away that we need to eliminate the government at some point. Nor should we be so demanding. The process of economic and moral education and enlightenment is gradual, not abrupt.
Nor, on the other hand, should we be complacent. The coming Congressional elections will be a landslide victory for the Republicans, in that I stand by my prediction from over a year ago, simply for the reason that most people will think that they suck less than the Democrats.
This is of course all nonsense. But for a few true (but inconsequential) believers, such as Rand Paul (KY), Peter Schiff (CT), and John Dennis (San Francisco), most of what we’ll see is business as usual, even with a largely Republican Congress.
The political machinery is vicious. No matter how good your intentions, it will either swallow you up and corrupt you or spit you our right away. There is nothing good whatsoever that can come out of violence. This is at the root of all political problems and it will never go away until we abdicate from this mad fantasy that is the government.
Reason is the Enemy
Reason is the enemy of the spin doctors of our age. Reason requires thought. Thought requires intelligence. The less intelligent someone is, the less reasonable the decisions he makes.
This is the fate of those who fall for the spin doctors of our age; for the people who tell us that aggression is justifiable; the people who cry about global warming; the people who tell you their health care plan will make a difference; the people who send 30,000 more hitmen to Afghanistan to kill more people and get killed by more … and, yes, the people who thought it made sense to invade Iraq …
… the people who voted for Bush and Obama.
The people who take your money and give it to their Wall St. buddies; the people who think prosperity can be conjured up out of a printing press; the people who have been wrong on every single thing they said in the past … and will continue to be wrong on every thing they say in future.
This is the fate of Democracy today; a bunch of misguided souls, thinking they know when they don’t, thinking they voted for change when they didn’t, thinking they thought when they didn’t.
Yes, intelligence does require thought; thought requires reason … reason is the human tool of survival, what would we be without it?
Who is out seeking to destroy our tool of survival, to issue our death sentence. It is, unfortunately, the spin doctors of our age, messing with your minds.
Don’t let them do it! THINK! Use your brain! Question things you are being told before accepting them at face value. Educate yourself about Ethics, Human Nature, and Government.
For intelligence requires thought. Thought requires reason. And the spin doctors of our age are the enemy of reason … don’t let them succeed. Think for yourself and fight for truth. Because as long as you don’t, nothing will change …
Community Activity- Chester Barron became a registered member September 8, 2010
- Lonnie Malone became a registered member September 8, 2010
- Ruben Gilbert became a registered member September 8, 2010
- Joe Meadows became a registered member September 8, 2010
- Herbert Johns became a registered member September 8, 2010
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