Ron Paul Wins Maryland Straw Poll
Ron Paul scored his biggest straw poll win yet over the Labor Day weekend, winning at the Maryland state fair in a contest with nearly a thousand votes cast. In similar state fair straw polls in Minnesota and South Dakota he finished in 5th and 6th place respectively, more than doubling his average showing in national public opinion polls. The polls in all three states were open for the duration of the fairs, but the Minnesota results for the first two days were reportedly "lost".
Maryland State Fair (911 votes cast)
Minnesota State Fair (6,012 votes cast)
South Dakota State Fair (500+ votes cast)
The results should be considered more good news for the Ron Paul campaign. Only in South Dakota did any of the second tier candidates outperform Ron Paul, with Huckabee at 13%. Duncan Hunter continues to show no signs of gaining any national traction, despite his impressive victory in Texas. Brownback and Tancredo have finished behind Paul nearly everywhere.
These state fair polls open to the general public offer a clear contrast to earlier straw polls of Republican activists. Giuliani did better, and Romney worse in the state fair polls, reflecting their relative name recognition with the general public. For most of the candidates, the results were pretty close to their standing in the random telephone polls. Ron Paul finished considerably above where public opinion polls place him, reflecting his stronger appeal to independents, Libertarians, and Democrats, who are not included in telephone surveys.
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Maryland State Fair (911 votes cast)
29% -- Ron Paul
24% -- Rudy Giuliani
21% -- Fred Thompson
10% -- Mitt Romney
6% -- John McCain
4% -- Mike Huckabee
2% -- Newt Gingrich
2% -- Tom Tancredo
1% -- Sam Brownback
1% -- other
0% -- Duncan Hunter
0% -- Bob Ehrlich
Minnesota State Fair (6,012 votes cast)
33% -- Fred Thompson
21% -- Rudy Giuliani
14% -- Mitt Romney
8% -- John McCain
7% -- Ron Paul
6% -- Mike Huckabee
5% -- Newt Gingrich
2% -- Duncan Hunter
2% -- Sam Brownback
1% -- Tom Tancredo
0% -- John Cox
South Dakota State Fair (500+ votes cast)
25% -- Fred Thompson
19% -- Rudy Giuliani
14% -- John McCain
13% -- Mike Huckabee
13% -- Mitt Romney
8% -- Ron Paul
4% -- Duncan Hunter
3% -- Sam Brownback
1% -- Tom Tancredo
The results should be considered more good news for the Ron Paul campaign. Only in South Dakota did any of the second tier candidates outperform Ron Paul, with Huckabee at 13%. Duncan Hunter continues to show no signs of gaining any national traction, despite his impressive victory in Texas. Brownback and Tancredo have finished behind Paul nearly everywhere.
These state fair polls open to the general public offer a clear contrast to earlier straw polls of Republican activists. Giuliani did better, and Romney worse in the state fair polls, reflecting their relative name recognition with the general public. For most of the candidates, the results were pretty close to their standing in the random telephone polls. Ron Paul finished considerably above where public opinion polls place him, reflecting his stronger appeal to independents, Libertarians, and Democrats, who are not included in telephone surveys.
