IA PrimR: Public Policy Polling: Ron Paul almost 1st

[Mr. Morden]

Among those who think the economy / jobs is the most important issue:

Romney 28%
Gingrich 20%
Paul 17%
Huntsman 11%

Among those who think reducing govt. spending / the debt is the most important issue:

Gingrich 26%
Paul 22%
Bachmann 12%
Romney 12%

Among those who think taxes is the most important issue:

Paul 21%
Perry 13%
Gingrich 12%
Huntsman 11%
Romney 11%

Among those who think social issues is the most important issue:

Paul 26%
Santorum 20%
Bachmann 19%
Perry 17%

Among those who think illegal immigration is the most important issue:

Gingrich 29%
Paul 19%
Bachmann 17%
Johnson 8%
Perry 8%
Romney 8%

Among those who think foreign policy / national security is the most important issue:

Paul 32%
Gingrich 29%
Romney 10%
Bachmann 9%

[Simfan34]

Those are some pretty good crosstabs for Huntsman.

[Free Palestine]

Those are some pretty good crosstabs for Huntsman.

No, not really.

[Badger]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Paul is apparently strong among service members for reasons that I don't really understand.

Probably because the military has a lower proportion of armchair chickenhawks than the general populace.

Yes, that would tend to make sense. I've never met a single service member in my entire life who actually likes overseas deployment or combat very much.

[Lief 🗽]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

More evidence for the "all Ron Paul voters are potheads" theory.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

Not too surprising if you actually think about it.  A smaller, less powerful federal government would be significantly less likely and less able to overrule state and local governments when they implement policies favored by social conservatives.

[Free Palestine]

Paul is apparently strong among service members for reasons that I don't really understand.

Probably because the military has a lower proportion of armchair chickenhawks than the general populace.

Yes, that would tend to make sense. I've never met a single service member in my entire life who actually likes overseas deployment or combat very much.

I've only known two veterans/service members -- a wacky neocon I had two classes with who was in one of the Iraq wars, and my father, who was in 'Nam and hates the government.

I can imagine that anti-war service members might be a sort of silent majority.

[tpfkaw]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

What is it that they say about people living in glass houses?  Anyhoo, clearly, the fact that Ron Paul is strongest among "foreign policy/national security" voters means his supporters all want to invade Iran.  (Oh, but wait, there are different positions on any given issue!  Not that a brilliant legal mind such as yourself wouldn't have figured that out already).

[Mr. Morden]

Current members of the armed forces is of course a demo that skews very young, a group that Paul cleans up in.

And of course, it's possible for Paul to lead in a group without having a majority.  He's at 26% among social issues voters, which is a plurality but still far short of a majority.  He's at 32% among foreign policy / national security voters, which is far short of a majority.

On the social issues thing, this just shows that Gingrich and Romney voters (on average) don't care that much about social issues.  Romney's at a mere 1% among GOP voters who think social issues are most important(!).  The GOP voters who prioritize social issues are scattered among Paul and Santorum/Bachmann/Perry.

[Bull Moose Base]

Paul made a strategic decision to pursue social conservatives and has been aggressively doing so.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/saint-paul-inside-ron-paul-effort-convince-christian-150637605.html

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[Badger]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

What is it that they say about people living in glass houses?  Anyhoo, clearly, the fact that Ron Paul is strongest among "foreign policy/national security" voters means his supporters all want to invade Iran.  (Oh, but wait, there are different positions on any given issue!  Not that a brilliant legal mind such as yourself wouldn't have figured that out already).

Wake up on the wrong side of the rock this morning? I meant my post in all seriousness and without sarcasm, so can the attitude and try making a cogent point, for I can't fathom any in your screed.

On to Ernest's post, while I see your point, friend, that theory doesn't make as much sense to me. IA's brand of social conservatives very much want nationwide constitutional bans on abortion and gay marriage, and my point was Paul's adherence to a federalist approach on those issues would seem at face value not to endear him to that crowd, let alone make him their top choice. While drug legalization isn't in the forefront of such voters' concerns, Paul's strong opposition to the War on Drugs would presumably only widen that divide with this bloc, at least culturally as much as policy-wise.

The Yahoo article Joementum posted seems to answer those questions though. It appears that while many social conservative leaders indeed aren't enamoured with Paul's deference to the states to decide these issues, he's done a great job of genuine grass roots outreach and using appealing rhetoric (as demonstrated in the blurb JoeM quoted) to hit just the right notes.

[TheGlobalizer]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

Not too surprising if you actually think about it.  A smaller, less powerful federal government would be significantly less likely and less able to overrule state and local governments when they implement policies favored by social conservatives.

This is why I think people who dismiss Paul are missing the point.  Socons could live with the states rights message that would allow banning abortion, etc. at the state level.  They would prefer salvation, but in lieu of that, they're the sort that could let all the sodomites burn in their California / east coast hells.

[Free Palestine]

Paul leads among social issue voters? Who knew?

Standard caveat for MoE among small sub-samples duly noted.

Not too surprising if you actually think about it.  A smaller, less powerful federal government would be significantly less likely and less able to overrule state and local governments when they implement policies favored by social conservatives.

This is why I think people who dismiss Paul are missing the point.  Socons could live with the states rights message that would allow banning abortion, etc. at the state level.  They would prefer salvation, but in lieu of that, they're the sort that could let all the sodomites burn in their California / east coast hells.

Though there are still plenty of fascists who want their ideology shoved down the throats of all Americans, of course.