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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 22 ‘real world’ straw polls conducted since June* 2007, we find that Dr. Paul won eight of them, came in second in four of them and third in six of them. That is, he came in among the top three candidates in eighteen of the twenty-two 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!

The following is an September 9th update of http://www.redpills.org/?p=283.

Ron Paul Straw Poll Summary beginning June* 1, 2007
18/22 finshes among the top three candidates!
First Place
09/09/07 – Tinonium, MD 26%
08/26/07 – Pittsburgh, PA 45%
08/24/07 – Dakalb Co., GA 20%
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
09/01/07 – Fort Worth, TX 17%
08/22/07 – St. Paul, MN 16%
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 (listed chronologically)

The Maryland Republican Party presidential straw poll was conducted at the Maryland State Fair in Tinonium, Maryland on September 9th.  The results were:

1. Ron Paul (263) 26%
2. Rudy Giuliani (220) 22%
3. Fred Thompson (188) 19%
   Other candidates (329) 33%

The South Dakota GOP presidential straw poll was taken in Huron, South Dakota at the SD State Fair from August 30th – September 3rd.  The results were:

1. Fred Thompson  25%
2. Rudy Giuliani  19%
3. John McCain  14%
4. Mike Huckabee 13%
5. Mitt Romney  13%
6. Ron Paul  8%
   Other candidates  8%

The Texas straw poll was conducted in Fort Worth, Texas on September 1st.  There were accusations of voting irregularities.  The results were:

1. Duncan Hunter (534) 41.1%
2. Fred Thompson (266) 20.5%
3. Ron Paul (217) 16.7%
4. Mike Huckabee (83) 6.4%
5. Rudy Giuliani (78) 6.0%
6. Mitt Romney (61) 4.7%
   Other candidates (61) 4.7%

The Allegheny County Straw Poll was conducted on August 26th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The results were:

1. Ron Paul (28) 45.2%
2. Rudy Giuliani (9) 14.6%
2. Mitt Romney (9) 14.6%
3. Fred Thompson (8) 12.9%
4. Mike Huckabee (2) 3.2%
Other candidates 9.6%

The Dakalb County, Georgia Straw Poll was held August 24th. The results were:

1. Ron Paul 20%
2. Rudy Giuliani 18%
3. Mitt Romney 16%
4. Fred Thompson 12%
5. John McCain 7%
6. Mike Huckabee 6%
7. Tom Tancredo 3%
Other candidates 2%

The Minnesota Presidential Straw Poll was held August 22nd in St. Paul, Minnesota. The results were:

1. Fred Thompson 21%
2. Mitt Romney 20%
3. Ron Paul 16%
4. Rudy Giuliani 13%
5. John McCain 11%
6. Mike Huckabee 8%
7. John Cox 4%
8. Duncan Hunter 2%
9. Tom Tancredo 2%
10. Sam Brownback 2%
11. Newt Gingrich 2%

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 Western Montana Fair Republican Booth Presidential Straw Poll was conducted on August 15th at Missoula, Montana. The results of that straw poll were:

1. Fred Thompson (25) 29%
2. Rudy Giuliani (22) 26%
3. Mitt Romney (13) 15%
3. John McCain (13) 15%
4. Ron Paul (3) 4%
4. Sam Brownback (3) 4%
Other candidates (6) 7%

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, Utah 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%

Straw Polls occuring after May 31st which are not included:

Students for Life of America – this was more a survey of 635 pro-life college students, not a physical, real world straw poll. It was conducted 8/16. Ron Paul came in fourth.

Freedom Works Straw Poll – this was an on-line poll conducted July 31 – August 2. Ron Paul came in first.

Olathe Kanas Straw Poll – individuals could buy the opportunity to vote more than once, not representative. Conducted July 8th. Of the 108 votes, Ron Paul got few, if any.

* – 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 that is 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/
http://ok4ronpaul.ashlux.com/wiki/index.php?title=2008_Presidential_GOP_straw_poll_results
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/straw-poll-results/

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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.