As was discussed in class, the recent CPAC straw poll has Rand Paul winning the republican nomination. It is very important to acknowledge that this poll is TWO years out from the actual election. This still shows the major hold the Rand Paul has on republicans with just his name. There is not a whole lot that can be taken from this poll, other than the fact that Rand Paul is the most well-known candidate this early in the race.
This Georgia poll has Rand far behind the second place candidate from the CPAC poll, Scott Walker. Rand Paul only received 4 percent of the vote, well behind the 26 percent behind Scott Walker.
When looking at the participants in both polls, it is very easy to see a difference right away. First off, in the Georgia poll, the voters all have voted in the last 4 Georgia Republican Primaries, and this equates to 6,745 people. Whereas the CPAC only asked 3,007 republican voters, demonstrating a clear difference in the poll takers. This difference does not bode well for Rand in future. It is clear that while his name is recognized by the uninformed, he clearly is not at a great standing with the serious republican voters at this time.
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The biggest takeaways from both of these polls is that Paul is a well recognized name to the uninformed voter, and that he currently is not backed by the "republican super voters" if you will. This creates an interesting situation for Rand Paul moving forward. The uniformed know his name, but the people who are active in politics clearly don't support his idea for the nation moving forward. Paul needs to take the positive that he is well known, while working to gain support from the political wonks if he plans to make a serious run for President in 2016.
There is plently of time left for Paul to lose or gain support, but both of these polls provide a solid insight as to where he stands today with the voters. And while the CPAC poll never predicts the national candidate right, Paul needs to use this poll victory as a stepping stone to future success.
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