Blogging is so much fun. You can make a fool of yourself daily, instead of once a month. One day you pronounce a candidate dead, based on Poll A. The next day, Poll B resurrects her, and you get to explain that. Oh for the leisurely days of monthly journalism.
Yesterday, SurveyUSA’s new poll showed Perry leading Bell, 36%-26%, with Strayhorn and Friedman trailing badly at 19% and 16% respectively. Today, Rasmussen has a new poll that mirrors SurveyUSA’s findings for the two major party candidates but differs considerably on the status of the independents. The numbers in parentheses represent Rasmussen’s previous poll just before the debate:
Perry 36% (34%)
Bell 25% (19%)
Strayhorn 22% (21%)
Friedman 12% (18%)
The new Rasmussen poll indicates that Strayhorn has not lost contact with Bell, a finding that should squelch those rumors spread by certain bloggers about her being pressured to get out of the race and throw her support to Bell. (See, or maybe don’t see, since everything keeps changing, my earlier post from today, “Is Perry in Trouble?”)
Bell’s six-point gain in two weeks and Friedman’s equivalent loss suggests that Kinky’s much-criticized satirical remarks about race resulted in a flight of Democrats to Bell. Perry appears to be consolidating a small uptick. Otherwise, the battle continues between Bell and Strayhorn to see if either can break away to become the darling of the anti-Perry vote. And the final answer on November 7 may be no.
