#ncpol: Are you READY for some straw polls ????
Nearly one thousand Wake County Republicans got together last night, and you KNOW that is always an occasion for hijinks and tomfoolery and fun with farm animals. But, in all seriousness, they did do SOMETHING to give us a glimpse into how the March primaries are shaping up.
BIGGEST SHOCKERS: First in this category would have to be the US Senate race. Straw poll results from last night show the incumbent, Richard Burr, with 48 percent, followed by challenger Greg Brannon with 44 percent. (Larry Holmquist and Paul Wright shared the remaining eight percent.)
There was also a poll for the 2nd congressional district seat — which only includes a piece of Wake County — currently held by Renee Ellmers. Challenger Jim Duncan led the voting with 41 percent to 26 percent for Ellmers. Frank Roche, a Wake County resident and Ellmers’s primary challenger from 2014, came in a close third with 22 percent. (Kay Daly and Tim D’Annunzio shared the remaining 11 percent.)
BOND, CONNECTNC BOND. The anti- position won big here with 68 percent of the vote. That’s interesting, given that the bond proposal was passed by a GOP-controlled legislature and is being championed by an incumbent Republican governor.
COUNCIL OF STATE. State senator Buck Newton beat out Forsyth County D.A. Jim O’Neill with 86 percent of the total vote in the attorney general race. Alamance County physician Rosemary Stein beat out her two opponents in the GOP race for DPI superintendent with 67 percent of the total vote.
PRESIDENT. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump led the pack with, respectively, 37 percent and 21 percent of the total votes cast. Rubio was third with 18 percent.
You can take straw polls for what they are. Many smart people I know (who are very smart about politics) tell me that polling is getting more and more meaningless. You’ve got all these people with unlisted cell phones. You’ve got all of these people who don’t answer calls with unfamiliar numbers popping up in caller ID. And, of course, you have the people who just plain LIE to screw with the pollsters. (Case in point: My 54 year old white male friend. I listened to him, the other day, try to convince a pollster he was an 18 year old black female who voted TWICE for Obama and thinks Bernie Sanders is GREAT.)
Sorry I couldn’t make it there last night…I was in Randolph County doing the incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture’s job trying to save the dwindling supply of agricultural land left in our State. By a 3-2 split decision, 1,500 or so acres have been converted to “Heavy Industrial” in pursuit of the State’s soon to be vacant 14th “MegaSite”….funded with taxpayer dollars and probably soon to be using “eminent domain” to secure the last hold out parcels.
Hopefully, he didn’t get 50% + 1 in the straw poll 🙂
I think the big surprise will be Greg Brannon taking Richard Burr out of the Senate. The wizard will be unmasked as Brannon rolls to victory.
And surely the bond will go down too!
I’ll lay money on the Senate race going to a runoff. After that, all bets are off.
Governor?
I am not surprised that Wake Republicans went against the bond. I understand that several county GOP organizations have come out against it, as has at least one Congressional District party organization:
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Blog-3931.112112-10512.112112-3rd-District-GOP-Executive-Committee-opposes-bond-referendum.html
No to Bond, Prioritize needs pay from State Budget. NC Leg. and Governor McCroy refused to solve health Insurance problem for State Government Workers????
McCroy has destroyed Commercial Fisheries Industry by providing voting majority to CCA members of 2,300. 80 % reduction in income since 2010. 75% reduction in Fish caught since 2010. Not for working watermen on Coastal NC.
Brannon is within the “margin of error”, and it appears Nee Nee will be toast (God Speed)!
But hey, that’s what happens when you campaign as a Conservative Republican, then govern as a “bend over and grab your ankles for Obama” RINO.
And yes, there are errors and false answers in these straw polls.
But I think it points to a Bigger Picture: We are fed up, we are done, and your lying RINO days are numbered (and you know who you are)!
I just hope NC-06 voters have enough sense to put Mark Walker out to pasture, too. National Review just did an article on him, reporting that he’s become Paul Ryan’s point man to bring in the GOP’s version of the War on Poverty and Great Society, Part 2.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430930/paul-ryans-secret-weapon-mark-walker-north-carolina-preacher
Read it and weep.
I sure hope Brannon and Duncan can take out Burr and Ellmers for senate and house. Let’s go Harnett County and the rest of the 2nd Congressional District and vote these two bums out!
I would love to see Burr and Elmers defeated. I don’t watch much TV except in the mornings and have noticed Club for Growth is blasting Elmers. I thought they were a liberal arm of the GOP.
The Club for Growth is a Ronald Reagan conservative organization, that often goes up against the Karl Rove gang. They focus on tax and spend issues and other economic issues.
They are a great organization, and I look to their endorsements and to those of the Senate Conservatives Fund as to where I send my contributions.
I know what you mean, the Club for Growth has a name that makes them sound something like the Chamber of Commerce, and of course, the Chamber really does go after conservatives (and would support Ellmers).