Barr Polled With ‘Frontrunners’
April 28th, 2008 by StaffIn Zogby’s latest survey, Bob Barr beat Ralph Nader in a match-up against John McCain and Hillary Clinton, as well as in a match-up against John McCain and Barack Obama.
The survey (link here) included 7,653 likely voters nationwide and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.1 percentage points.
Not too shabby for a pre-nomination poll and considering that Barr 2008 is still in exploratory committee mode.
| General Election Match-ups | |
| McCain | 44% |
| Clinton | 34% |
| Nader | 3% |
| Barr | 4% |
| Not sure/someone else | 16% |
| General Election Match-ups | |
| McCain | 42% |
| Obama | 45% |
| Nader | 1% |
| Barr | 3% |
| Not sure/someone else | 8% |
April 29th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Please digg this post… it’s time to start spreading the word in a big way.
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Zogby_Barr_beating_Nader
April 29th, 2008 at 9:48 am
We can only hope that the LP extremist don’t choose an asterisk candidate over Barr. The past record of those delegates isn’t encouraging but there is always hope.
I would hope Bob would open up the LP nomination process to all LP members going forward via a secure internet nomination process. This would take the power out of the hands of the most radical party members and open it up to libertarian thinking Americans all across the country.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
This poll shows one thing that is true. The pollsters and media will consider Bob Barr a legitimate candidate.
It is time for Libertarians to unite behind the one candidate that will get the most attention and promote Liberty. That is Bob Barr.
We, Libertarians, will never agree with a candidate 100% but 6, 7, 8 out of 10 is 6, 7, 8 more than the two major parties.
Donate now and send a message! I did!
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Given the all time low frustration with Washington and the tremendous momentum Ron Paul achieved, this could and should be the year the LP tops Ed Clark’s showing way back in 1980. However, this will only be possible if they nominate someone who can tell the story in a way that is approachable to the average American. Bob Barr is that person.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
This is great, but can you demonstrate that it isn’t just the “anybody but Clinton, McCain and Nader” vote? I mean, how would Mike Gravel do, for example? Or Dennis Kucinich? Jesse Ventura? An unnamed Libertarian Party candidate? Fill in the blank…
If Gravel showed up at, say, 5% or even 10% in the same kind of poll, I still wouldn’t want him representing the Libertarian Party, since his economic views are so socialistic. What price are we willing to pay to confuse the public as to what it means to be a Libertarian?
If we sell out our principles for a few votes, there’s no reason to even have a Libertarian Party. Without principle, we are meaningless and any record vote totals would be a Pyrrhic victory.
I don’t see how Bob Barr will take advantage of the Ron Paul momentum if his platform does not come much closer to Paul’s than it currently does. Is there any chance that Mr. Barr will focus on the Federal Reserve or categorically state that we should bring our troops home from around the world and end the wars immediately? Will he concede that the war on drugs does more harm than good?
A Republican (Ron Paul) called for the elimination of the income tax to be replaced with nothing. How can we do any less? Is cutting spending back to where it was under Bill Clinton too radical? If so, there is not much hope for meaningful change.
Incrementalism, which Mr. Barr appears to be advocating, will not work to reduce government. It works fine to grow government because government’s nature is to grow, but government has never been reduced incrementally. It always grows back, like a weed. Government programs need to be pulled out by the roots.
If Mr. Barr does not make his platform much bolder, I see no reason not to think that many Ron Paul supporters would just write in Ron Paul’s name, as they say they plan to do, even though that is clearly a wasted opportunity since those write-in votes will not be counted or reported.