Gaston YR straw poll: Daoud leads NCGOP chairman field
A Republican organization in the backyard of establishment favorite Craig Collins has released the results of a straw poll showing Collins in second place in the race for the NCGOP’s top job.
I know, I know. Straw polls are typically quite dubious. It’s typically very easy to sway them. But THIS is a group that SHOULD be biased in favor of the hometown guy Collins.
AJ Daoud, the 6th congressional district GOP chairman, has not officially entered the race. There IS an effort afoot to draft him for the chairman’s race. The vote for state Republican leadership occurs in June at the party’s state convention.
A straw poll of delegates would have a lot of credibility, but nothing indicates who was polled in this ”straw poll”.
I agree. I looked at their page and the last 5 posts are about AJ Daoud which is a red flag, second, they said 4200 people participated. That is literally unbelievable. The NCGOP can barely get a couple thousand to their state meetings, heck the Gaston YR facebook page only has 200 likes so how in the world did they get over 4000 people? This whole thing smells, but why.
As the Gaston YR chairman let me say while our page may only have a few hundred likes, the straw poll was an open one. Statistics from the poll showed that 47% of people who took the time to answer the poll also shared it. That accounted for 63% of the votes taken being from referrals. I also noticed many county parties posted to their own FB pages / groups. So this is not strictly Gaston YRs voting.
At my work we buy facebook ads and have run click through campaigns. Getting 40-50 clicks in a day from a group that has thousands of likes and followers is a good day. When we email our list of tens of thousands, getting a 20% open rate and even close to 10% click through rate is top notch performance. That being said, that’s still only around 1000 people. The YR poll is completely inaccurate, and the group is not being up front about how it was conducted. The only action that could explain this amount of participation is either allowing individuals to vote multiple times, or the YR group is purely fabricating information.
The delegates at the convention need a option other then Collins. I know he is not what the ncgop needs for the next two year. In a conversation with him he came across to me that he is looking to be chairman for a big payday and that is not the kind of leader the ncgop needs going into a term that will have a presidential election.
Maybe so. Saw Harnett at a District convention today, and he promised to take no paycheck from NCGOP.
If Daoud is on the fence, he’d better move because people who like Daoud are now being compelled to give their word of support to Harnett. Nothing against Harnett, I’ll support him, too, if it comes to that. It’s just that once I commit, I stay committed.
Daoud is who we need. Collins seems to be an empty suit with highly questionable supporters, and his using a slug like Dee Stewart tells you all you need to know about him. Harnett has been an RNC employee, something that does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Daoud is more a candidate of the grassroots.
Harnett managed Vince Cokleys campaign in the 12th district. They made great strides reaching out to democrats that had not been reached out too before and explained the conservitive principles to people hearing them for the first time
He did a great job in the 12th. They definitely took on for the team, and pushed the statewide candidates over the top.
The issue of Chairmans pay is bigger then just this year election. My focus is long term. I want every ncgop chairman elected to be a Statesman and not a paycheck hunter
I have personally talked to both people in this race and I am glad harnett is running a a volunteer chairman. It was the first question I asked him was if he was going to take a salery or not.. When I asked Collins the same question he talked about a pay cut that he wanted back this is even before the delgates get a chance to vote
The biggest issues facing our party is youth and minority involvement. Harnett can address those issues head on. I am already committed to Harnett. Aj needs to stop playing games and get behind Harnett.
the biggest problem in our party is not standing strong on our conservative principles it is only after doing this that you can reach out and contrast the difference between conservative values and liberal values to the youth and minority groups.
we need leaders that put conservative values and principles ahead of focus groups and polling. some of our elected leaders have been rolling over and playing dead on things that they need to be attack dogs on.
people need to have a reason to stand with us in this fight against the liberal godless takeover of America
You have that right. The surrender monkeys like Boehner, McConnell, and Moore are killing the GOP brand by making the party little more than warmed over Democrats.
This poll is not even remotely scientific. Hey, I setup a poll in the Harnett For Chair Facebook group. The results are shocking. Harnett won the poll with 100% support. Shocking.
Harnett is by far the best candidate in the race. He tackles the most important issues in our party. He has my support no matter what.
Harnett is the worst candidate in the race.
If you are going to leave a comment like that you really should explain why
I will explain why I cannot vote for Collins and that is because he wants a big payday from the party for what I believe should be the highest volunteer position in the party
Collins called me and we chatted but I still cannot support him
because I do not think a chairman of the party can reach out to everyday citizens in NC while he or she is making so such a huge payday and it really is a slap in the face to all the volunteer grassroot workers in the state.
Do I have issues with Harnett yes but he is not the worst candidate in the race. My main problem is he has never been a county or district chairperson and as far as I know he has never even been a member of the state execuitve committee. But I would not call him the worse candidate because of this. In someways it could be good to have a conservitive from outside the party to give the state party new life and to reach conservitives in this state that the party has alienated in past years. Going into 2016 having a conservitive that is a conservitive and not someone just maintaining the status quo of past party operations might be just the bit of fresh air this party needs in this state.
In my first conversation with Harrett he will probally say I was one of his biggest sceptics but after talking to the main endorsed person in this race I feel it is important to give Harrett another look and hope every delegate will keep a open mind to options this party has that might make it even better
Harnett is not my first choice, but my absolute LAST choice would be any candidate connected to Dee Stewart, and that is Collins. Hooking up with Stewart demonstrates a complete lack of judgment and good sense.