Latest New Hampshire primary poll (10/07/11)
Earlier today a Zogby poll was released which showed that Herman Cain had suddenly jumped out to a twenty point lead over his nearest competitor, Mitt Romney. I have to be honest here, I have a hard time believing that Herman Cain has gained this type of momentum in such a short period. And I say that as someone who happens to be a big fan of the man. If I had to chose right now I would vote for Rick Santorum but Herman Cain would be a strong second.
In this latest poll Rick Perry comes in at a distant third with 12%. I feel as if most of Rick Perry’s early support was more of an anti-Romney vote than an endorsement of the Texas governor and if this is true it is likely that many of the anti-Romney Rick Perry supporters peeled off and went to Cain after the last debate when Rick Perry called those who do not agree with giving the children of illegal aliens in-state tuition heartless, but would enough of them have jumped to Herman Cain to provide him with this lead? The Zogby poll does not go into the details of where Herman Cain’s new found support is coming from, I have my doubts about this poll, but let’s take it at face value and state that it is true.
What does a national poll mean in the grand scheme of things during the primary season? A national poll can be used to gauge public sentiment towards or against any candidate, and may in the end affect how a candidate does in the individual states, but other than that national polls really do not mean all that much because there is no national primary election. How a candidate is polling in the individual states is much more important. Having said that, I give you the latest New Hampshire poll results.
Mitt Romney still has a big lead in the first in the nation primary state, leading Herman Cain by a margin of 37% to 12% with Rick Perry falling to just 4%–well behind even Ron Paul who is in third place at 11%.
Still, this does show Herman Cain to be surging in the state as formerly he was in the low single digits, so the national poll may be somewhat indicative of Herman Cain’s new found popularity.
It is still Mitt Romney’s election to lose in New Hampshire as his core support appears to be strong, but there is a long way to go and while Rick Perry is falling Herman Cain seems to be gaining momentum here and there is still plenty of time for him to close the gap in New Hampshire. If Herman cain does well in Iowa and carries it over into New Hampshire he could very well gain the momentum heading into the larger primary states, and if that happens all bets are off and the new Zogby poll could prove to be accurate.
America's Watchtower 
Count me as a switch from Perry to Cain. I’ve always liked Cain but wasn’t sure if he was a serious contender. Aside from a couple of verbal missteps that I wouldn’t call gaffes he is a solid choice. The problem he is going to have is quite frankly the bigotry of the left, ala Clarence Thomas. If he can handle that the way he’s handled the MSNBC crew and Bill Clinton, and rise above it I think more and more will decide he is viable. That said, the guy is simply brilliant, experienced, and has a successful track record.
Let’s be clear, though. If it ends up being Romney then we all have to get on board. We can’t let this disaster continue unabated. Unfortunately, I believe it will take a mountain to get Romney to repeal Obamacare regardless of what he says now.
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I agree with your comment, Lee. However, I wanted to point one thing out to you. You say Romney may not be willing to repeal Obamacare and you may be right in that regard. That is why it is so extremely important that we win control of the Senate and solidify our control of the House. If we get enough real conservatives in Congress, Romney may have no choice but to follow their lead and repeal the Affordable Care Act.
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Yes Larry, we need a turnover in the Senate and we need to keep the House as well. That is the only chance we have of overturning this legislation.
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I am for both Cain and Santorum at this point and you make a great point about Cain; he will face the bigotry of the left because he is what liberals hate the most–a conservative black man. The left hates it when a minority become successful on their own because they believe only the government can help them. If that isn’t bigotry I don’t know what is.
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I agree. A twenty point jump doesn’t seem possible. But this is one strange election cycle we’re going through. The primaries are the true test and from what I’m reading, Cain is not spending much time in Iowa or New Hampshire. Maybe he doesn’t have enough funding yet. The word is that the big money is flowing to Romney. We’ll see…
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Cain was here early in his campaign but he hasn’t been here much since then. New Hampshire voters are sort of fickle when it comes to how much time a candidate spends in the state and if Cain wants to do well here he had better start showing up here a little more often.
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My only reservation about Herman Cain is his having worked for the FED … as a consultant. Other than that, I have no problem with supporting him.
Having watched his debate with former President Clinton in ’94, over healthcare, he’s rational, knowledgable and convincing. He’ll put Obama into a new type carpetbag …. He’s the Black man who doesn’t have to talk with a different lingo to different audiences – he comes through as honest and straightforward; I just hope he’s not another hand-picked shill for those who pull the strings! Prayer is in order, either way.
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That is a big consenn about Cain, but I don’t think it will end up being a factor in the race. That video with Clinton is what has really won me over to his side.
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I don’t know, but the American people have gotten a pretty good taste of what they can expect from Rick Perry regarding illegal aliens. The “heartless” comment didn’t help at all. It’s not like his support was cemented in stone. Most Americans didn’t really know him at all. They know him better now, and I’m not that surprised that many potential voters may have ditched him for Cain. I think it’s possible.
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I agree rjjrdq, the people liked Perry because they didn’t know him and they were looking for an alternative to Romney, but once they saw Perry they realized he was no better and possibly even a little worse. Now the anti-Romney Perry people are looking for an alternatve to Perry and they seem to have found Cain.
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I live in Georgia and have listened to Mr. Cain for years and I can assure you that he is the real deal. He is straight forward and will tell you like it is and it is a breath of fresh air listening to him speak and answer questions in normal speech and not “Policti-Speak”.
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The fact that he speaks like a normal person and not a politician and the fact that he actually answers questions has got to be a big reason why the people are starting to look at him. He tells it how he sees it and if you don’t like what he has to say he doesn’t care–I love it!
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Herman Cain seems to be surging, to be sure. A 20 point jump is pretty massive, but one never knows.
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Cain has huge momentum right now, will he be able to keep it up? I don’t know, but this has made the race quite a bit more interesting.
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