MSNBC Poll: Ron Paul @ 18% in Obama/Romney/Paul matchup

[Averroës Nix]

Full results here. 11/2-11/5, 1000 adults, MoE +/-3.10%

With Paul:

Obama - 44%
Romney - 32%
Paul - 18%

With Bloomberg:

Obama - 44%
Romney - 35%
Bloomberg - 13%


A relatively strong performance by Paul; if he were to continue polling at that level, he'd meet the threshold for inclusion in debates.

[Averroës Nix]

Nice numbers. I'd expect to see Paul at something like that if he announced a third party run. The trick would be maintaining that level of support until the debates. I'm pretty iffy on if he could do that.

Ballot access and fundraising seem like the biggest difficulties. The Libertarian Party (assuming he took that nomination) doesn't have access in many states and running independently would be a challenge. And as impressive as his small-donor support has been, he'd also have to bring his fundraising to an entirely different level.