2012 Candidate Selector: Very accurate.

[hotpprs]

This poll, even though it's such a small sample, and is only for the GOP candidates, really says a lot. Why? It is so opposite of what the National Polls are saying, which includes the whole electorate. (Ron Paul here has 57%?) It shows how a 3rd party could become very viable in the next 2 decades as us old geezers die off. I think the demographic of this site is basically on the younger side, and I see more and more of that group that are migrating away from both parties. It always seemed to lean Democratic, and still does, but it seems things have changed from 4 years ago.
A lot of younger people that seemed to like Obama in 2008, now seem to looking for another alternative. They are fed up with both parties. I don't blame them. Both parties really are in cahoots in some fashion. I'm kind of fed up too. I'm in a position where I might have to spend over 200K on college for my 2 kids, without having any confidence they will get jobs. So is that investment worth it? I definitely think that does not have to be the case if these 2 political parties weren't trying to appease their own lobby groups to get reelected.
But Ron Paul is too "out there", like Ross Perot was, to win a general election right now.
But if someone comes along that is more electable, and picks a serious VP, (unlike Ross Perot did), then you could see a 3rd party emerge.
So the forum polls on this site may not be a great indication of how things will turn out in the current elections, but they may be a great forecaster of things to come down the road.
(I do think the Presidential prediction maps are pretty accurate. But that is because people update them based on the daily polls that come out. Not their personal preferences like the forum polls).

[hotpprs]

No, not really, the Democrats simply go with Ron Paul on that list, Obama really should have been included.

If we go to bizzaro world, and only Democrats could vote in the general election, and the only 2 choices were Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. They would pick Ron Paul?
No way!
Any moderate Republican or Democrat will keep the 2 party spending machine alive and well. (George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush are proof of that).
Ron Paul does not believe in the nanny state, and does not appeal to the traditional Democrat voter. I don't believe the young people who supported Obama are traditional Democratic voters. They just hate George W. Bush, and blame him and all the GOP for their sorry looking futures. (They just don't get the fact that the Congress passes the laws, and the President just signs them. But they formed their opinions as teenagers when Bush was in office, so I guess he gets the blame. Life ain't always fair). So they are searching for a candidate, or party they can call their own, who will steer policy towards a better world for them, not the X-generation or the baby boomers. But Democrats in general would be way better off with Romney then Ron Paul.