#ncpol: A straw poll ???? (You don’t say.)
You know what straw polls are like. EVERYBODY’S got one. Sometimes, they can be an interesting way to take the temperature of the electorate during a primary.
The good folks of Moore County — one of the most reliably Republican counties in the state – held a straw poll this weekend at their annual GOP convention. Here’s what we learned:
President
Cruz – 37%
Trump – 25%
Rubio – 21%
Kasich – 13%
From what I’ve seen and heard from people across this state, this result pretty much reflects where the race stands thus far in North Carolina.
US Senate
Burr – 60%
Brannon – 33%
Holmquist – 6%
Wright – 0%
Not exactly stellar number from a two term incumbent US senator. It’s enough to win the primary. But it ought to give Team Burr cause for concern heading into the general.
US House District 2
Duncan – 61%
Ellmers – 17%
D’Annunzio – 11%
Daly – 8%
Roche – 4%
This vote came AFTER Renee Ellmers showed up to speak. This is also from a county she’s won every two years. (She’s represented these people since 2012, by the way.) Of course, if the new maps hold up to judicial scrutiny, it may all be moot. But it ought to send Miss Nee-Nee a clear message about where she stands.
Governor
McCrory – 93%
I guess the toll road furor hasn’t made its way across the state. (Maybe they’ll figure it out once the toll booths go up on US 1.)
NC Attorney General
Newton – 81%
O’Neill – 19%
It’s a shame that Paul Shumaker and his client are making us all go through this primary. Bring on Josh Stein!
Agriculture
Troxler – 64%
Stevens – 36%
It looks like the former head of Farmers for John Edwards is safely on his way to renomination. Again, not very impressive numbers for an incumbent. But there were probably not a lot of farmers in the room.
Insurance
Causey – 73%
McLaughlin – 18%
Pierce – 9%
Not a lot of great choices here. Causey is a 
nice guy who has been running for office — unsuccessfully for about three decades now. He has some good ideas about reforming the insurance practice in the state, but he has a bad habit of disappearing off the radar when the smoke from the primary battle clears.
State
LaPaglia – 54%
Daoud – 46%
AJ was able to wiggle out of that $10,000 fine somehow, but he wasn’t able to shimmy past Michael LaPaglia. (I know. I know. WHO ????)
Supt. of Public Instruction
Stein – 50%
Johnson – 31%
Sills – 19%
Rosemary Stein has worked hard. She’s an ardent Common Core opponent and a very concerned parent. Mark Johnson comes off as a very nice, articulate young man. (But he has some troubling political ties to Michael Bloomberg and the Common Core crowd.) Wesley Sills is an active teacher in Harnett County. He’s in the classroom and sees the problems first hand. I sense he would be a tweaker of the system, whereas Stein would take a sledgehammer to the bureaucracy.
NC House -52
Boles – 52%
Zumwalt – 48%
This ought to set off alarm bells on Jones Street. Jamie Boles is a known quantity here. He’s been a community leader for decades. He’s had his funeral business forever. He’s been active in the county party. He’s represented the county in Raleigh since 2008. But he barely eked by a political newcomer in a vote by folks who KNOW HIM WELL. This seat will stay Republican for sessions to come, but it may not have Jamie Boles sitting in it.
Moore County Commissioner
Zschoche – 59%
Quis – 41%
This will be of interest to our Moore County readers. We have ONE primary for the county board featuring the former mayor of Southern Pines vs. the former mayor of Whispering Pines. Frank Quis, of Southern Pines, is a great candidate who would serve well as a commissioner. Quis has a very professional, very subtle, Southern gentleman style while Bob Zschoche appears to channel Donald Trump.
But Quis has been out of office for a while, and hasn’t been nearly as active with the party as Zschoche has been. (Zschoche is still mayor pro team in Whispering Pines.) I think these numbers reflect that. But, remember, the numbers at the end of the day on March 15th are the ones that matter most.
Connect NC
Against – 58%
For 42%
This was an astounding result. George Little, a bigwig with the local community college and the state system, gave an impassioned speech about why the bond needs to be passed. Rising political superstar Nicole Revels followed him with a heck of a rebuttal. The folks in the audience knew George, but not Nicole.
Two thoughts on this….The SPI race numbers may actually look nothing like this because outside of NCGOP activists, none of the candidates are well known statewide….my cousin is Chairman of a somewhat rural county and she told me that whereas Sills and Johnson have reached out to rural County parties, Stein has been invisible. Guess she’s focused only on the big metropolitan counties.
Second, went to vote the other day and noticed that the Bond issue is on the back of the ballot by itself. No poll personnel warned me it was there before I submitted my ballot, so I wonder how many people won’t even vote on it because they didn’t see it on their ballots?
Mr.Toxhandler, I have gone everywhere that I have been invited. I have been to 50 Counties. This has been an important item in my candidacy. All parents should have access to a wonderful education for their children. I have had to turn down metropolitan area invitations because I was already scheduled for small venues 4 hours away from home with less than 10 people present. At these events, I am satisfied that is where I am supposed to be. Please have your sister reach out to me.
No criticism implied, perhaps a poor choice of phrase on my part, and it;s a cousin, not my sister. I merely mean’t that differing campaign outreach strategies among the three of you were likely to yield different results than what Moore county is seeing. I’m in a larger county where you have passed through, and my cousin isn’t bothered that she hasn’t heard from you, she was just commenting on her observations of the campaign trail to me.
Tell your cousin to vote for Stein.
The fact that Rosemary Stein MD would reply to a comment here on this site guarantees my vote and I am sure others feel the same
It’s less likely for the bond to be missed in counties with touchscreen voting. The machine will warn you that you ballot is incomplete if you try to submit it. Although – people could be accustomed to this message if they don’t normally vote for local downballot seats.
Touchscreens need to be outlawed and not because of the bond issue. Tammany Hall could only dream of having a tool like computerized voting.
Ireland ordered the things for their entire country, and after discovering their many flaws never used them. They are still sitting in a warehouse. They are tailor made for fraud, and with no paper trail to discover what happened.
Vote NO to the bond!!
So 62% of the people want either Trump or Cruz for president, while 60% still want to keep Burr? How does that work?
Call Burr’s office in DC and they can’t answer your question. Write Burr a letter and if you do get a reply it doesn’t say anything. We need to retire Burr back home to his wonderful North Carolina.
Very good observation Tommy. Burr is the exact opposite of Cruz. Since Trump is not a politician it’s hard to compare their records. Can’t imagine people will vote for Tricky Dick, again. I am hoping conservatives will flock to the polls and the RINOS will stay home.
I think people like Senator Burr because he always looks so Senatorial. His dark suits and neat hair make him look so trustworthy and caring. And driving a Thing just completes the package of what a down to earth US Senator should be. Then there is the fact that he played football for Wake Forest University, a fine Christian school.
Senator Burr is a fine representative for all of North Carolina and is well respected throughout the entire world.
We should thank our lucky stars that Senator Burr is ours!
At the Civitas Conservative Leadership Conference this past weekend in Raleigh, Senator Cruz was the easy winner.