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One of the criticisms I hear about Ron Paul’s campaign is that, “all the poll results that show Ron Paul doing well are cyber polls, not ‘real life’ polls.”  To all those who doubt that Ron Paul could win the Republican nomination for president in the real world, I say, ”take a look at the ‘real world’ polls and become a believer.”

Of the 15 ‘real world’ straw polls conducted since June* 2007, we find that Dr. Paul won five of them, came in second in four of them and third in four of them.  That is, he came in among the top three candidates in thirteen of the fifteen straw polls!  Ron Paul is a real candidate in the real world with a real message that is reverberating across America! 

Below, I have aggregated the ’real world’ straw polls conducted since June* 2007, for which I’ve been able to find results.  Please let me know of other ’real world’ straw polls, regardless of Dr. Paul’s placing, and I will update this list.  With upcoming straw polls in Texas and Florida we must keep the great results coming!

Go Ron Paul for President!

Ron Paul Straw Poll Summary as of June* 1, 2007
13/15 finshes among the top three candidates!
First Place
08/21/07 – South Sound, WA       28%
08/18/07 – Tuscaloosa, AL        81%
08/18/07 – Strafford Co., NH     73%
08/14/07 – Gaston Co., NC        37%
07/07/07 – Hopkinton, NH         62%
Second Place
07/28/07 – Georgetown Co., SC    18%
07/04/07 – Cobb Co., GA          17%
06/16/07 – Liberty Papers Conf.  17%
06/12/07 - Salt Lake City, UT     5% 
Third Place
08/18/07 – Tippecanoe Co., IN    12%
08/16/07 – Springfield, IL       19%
08/05/07 – NFRA Conference       14%
07/01/07 – CA Rep. Assembly Cnf. 12%

Straw Poll Specifics 

On August 21st the Ronald Reagan Club’s South Sound Republican straw poll showed Ron Paul is favored in Washington!  The results were:

1. Ron Paul (45)         28%
2. Fred Thompson (40)    25%
3. Rudy Giuliani (29)    18%
4. Mike Huckabee (12)     8%
4. Mitt Romney (12)       8%
5. Duncan Hunter (10)     6%
6. Newt Gingrich (8)      5%
7. John McCain (3)        2%
8. Sam Brownback (1)      1%

On August 18th the West Alabama Republican Assembly sponsored a straw poll at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The campaigns of Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, and Paul had representatives who gave speeches regarding their candidate.  When the dust settled, Ron Paul came in first place!

Results of U. of Alabama straw poll (votes):

1. Ron Paul (216)          81%
2. Mitt Romney (14)         5%
   Other candidates (36)   14%

Another straw poll was held on August 18th by the Strafford County Republican Committee in New Hampshire.  In addition to Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo attended.  When the votes were counted, Ron Paul walked away with 73% of the votes for first place!

Results of Stafford Co. New Hampshire straw poll:

1. Ron Paul (208)         73%
2. Mitt Romney (26)        9%
3. Mike Huckabee (20)      7%
4. Tom Tancredo (8)        3%    
   Other candidates (24)   8%

The results of the straw poll conducted by Tippecanoe County Republicans of Indiana on August 18th were:

1. Mitt Romney      26.8%
1. Fred Thompson    26.8%
2. Rudy Giuliani    14.5%
3. Mike Huckabee    11.7%
3. Ron Paul         11.7%
4. John McCain       3.9%
5. Sam Brownback     2.2%
6. Duncan Hunter     1.1%
7. Tom Tancredo      1.1%

The final poll results from the llinois straw poll conducted August 16th at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, were:

1. Mitt Romney     40.35%
2. Fred Thompson   19.96%
3. Ron Paul        18.87%
4. Rudy Giuliani   11.61%
5. John McCain      4.12%
6. Mike Huckabee    3.04%
7. Sam Brownback    1.08%
8. Duncan Hunter     .65%
9. Tom Tancredo      .33%

The Republican Party of Gaston County, North Carolina, conducted their straw at their GOP meeting and barbecue at Alfred aand Charlie’s BBQ House on August 14th.  The results of that straw poll were:

1. Ron Paul        36.6%
2. Fred Thompson   31.7%
3. Mike Huckabee    9.8%
4. Newt Gingrich    7.3%
5. Mitt Romney      7.3%
6. Rudy Giuliani    4.9%
7. John McCain      2.4%

The Ames, Iowa straw poll was conducted August 11th.  The results were:

 1. Mitt Romney (4516)     31.6%
 2. Mike Huckabee (2587)   18.1%
 3. Sam Brownback (2192)   15.3%
 4. Tom Tancredo (1961)    13.7%
 5. Ron Paul (1305)         9.1%
 6. Tommy Thompson (1009)   7.3%
 7. Fred Thompson (231)     1.6%
 8. Rudy Giuliani (183)     1.3%
 9. Duncan Hunter 174)      1.2%
10. John McCain (101)       0.7%
11. John Cox (41)           0.1%

The 2007 National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) Convention was held in St. Louis, Missouri with 250 people in attendance.  The results of their August 5th straw poll were:

 1. Fred Thompson   33%
 2. Mitt Romney     15%
 3. Ron Paul        14%
 4. Duncan Hunter   11%
 5. Tom Tancredo    11%
 6. John Cox         6%
 7. Newt Gingrich    3%
 8. Mike Huckabee    3%
 9. Rudy Giuliani    2%
10. Sam Brownback    2%

The Georgetown County Republican Party of South Carolina held its presidential straw poll on July 28th with 223 votes cast.  The results of the poll were:

1. Fred Thompson (102)   46%
2. Ron Paul (40)         18%
3. Mitt Romney (37)      17%
4. Duncan Hunter (15)     7%
5. Rudy Giuliani (13)     6%
6. John McCain (7)        3%
   Other candidates (9)   4%

Coalition for New Hampshire Taxpayers straw poll at their annual picnic in Hopkinton, New Hampshire results (7/7/07):

1. Ron Paul (182)          62%
2. Rudy Giuliani (24)       8%
3. Daniel Gilbert (20)      7%
4. Mitt Romney (13)         4%
5. Mike Huckabee (10)       3% 
   Other candidates (45)   15%

The Young Republican National Federation conducted their straw poll on July 6th in Hollywood, Florida.  The results were:

1. Mitt Romney (163)      47.0%
2. Fred Thompson (103)    30.0%
3. Rudy Giuliani (37)     10.7%
4. Mike Huckabee (14)      4.0%
5. Duncan Hunter (14)      4.0%
6. Ron Paul (11)           3.2%
7. John McCain (5)         1.4%

On July 4th the Cobb County GOP of Georgia held their straw poll.  The results were:

1. Fred Thompson (73)     29.7%
2. Ron Paul (43)          17.5%
3. Mitt Romney (38)       15.5%
4. Mike Huckabee (33)     13.4%
5. Newt Gingrich (29)     11.8%
6. Rudy Giuliani (26)     10.6%
7. Tom Tancredo (2)        0.0%
8. John McCain (2)         0.0%

The California Republican Assembly convention held their straw poll July 1st.  The results were:

1. Fred Thompson         25%
2. Duncan Hunter         19%
2. Mitt Romney           19%
3. Ron Paul              12%
4. Tom Tancredo           8%
5. Newt Gingrich          7%
5. Rudy Giuliani          7%
6. Sam Brownbeck          3%
   Other canidates        0%

TheLibertyPapers.org conference was held in June and on June 16th a straw poll was conducted.  The results were:

1. Fred Thompson     25.7%
2. Ron Paul          16.7%
3. Rudy Giuliani     12.5%
4. Mitt Romney        9.0%
5. John McCain        5.6%
   Other candidates  30.5%

The Utah GOP Convention straw poll was held in Salt Lake City on June 12th.  The results were:

1. Mitt Romney       80.0%
2. Ron Paul           5.4%
3. Rudy Giuliani      4.4%
4. John McCain        4.2%
   Other candidates   6.0%

* – I am using June 1st, 2007 as the beginning date for the straw polls because Dr. Paul was truly unknown to most, other than Libertarians and District 14 Texans, until the May/June time period.  This is supported by the fact that Dr. Paul received the following finishes in straw polls conducted in April and May:

05/12/07 – Lake Geneva, WI  10th 
04/21/07 – Greenville, SC   last
04/21/07 – Richland, SC     last
03/02/07 – Spartanburg, SC   9th

Other than showing the progress Dr. Paul has made, I do not believe those polls are germane to showing that Dr. Paul is a real candidate in the real world…which is the point of this post.  Further Dr. Paul did not declare his candidacy until March 11th, so even more reason why he was an unknown in the early polls.  And if you do not like those reasons and you think June is arbitrary (it is), then take notice of the mistletoe attached to the back of my coat.

Other good straw poll results sites include:
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/StrawPolls.phtml
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=47579
http://isilion.blogsome.com/2007/08/19/85/

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This article is copyright © 2007, by Gary Shumway. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce and distribute it electronically and in print, other than as part of a book and provided that mention of the author’s web site www.redpills.org is included. (Email notification is requested.) All other rights reserved. Gary Shumway is the author of Winging Through America and SCUBA Scoop.