Ron Paul and Getting 2%

[Chester Copperpot]

I was thinking today how all the cynics point out that Ron Paul ONLY gets 2% in all the polls.. (Even though he got 6% in a Texas poll, 12% in a Calif GOP straw poll, etc.)

and it occurred to me that if all Ron Paul EVER gets is 2% in the population then we've already won.. Ron Paul supporters are a very determined almost rabid lot (Speaking for myself and for the meetup members Ive personally met)


So if we take IOWA as an example.. they have just under 3 million people in Iowa.

Looking at the stats there are a solid 2 million plus people aged 18 and over who can vote,, so lets take 2% of THAT number or 40,000 people.

We need just 10,000 to come to the straw poll to ACE that thing.. Thats not going to be hard.. 1/4 of the Ron Paul supporters that are out there will be committed to going,

PLUS as Ron Paul becomes more popular that added 2% will rise.


This has the potential to be the greatest upset in American Politics since Washington denied himself a 3rd term.. The establishment isnt going to know what even hit them.

[MozoVote]

It's not that simple. Most people, even RP supporters, don't really want to spend $35 a head plus gasoline to hear some windbags in Ames, to fund the existing establishment.

The voters in Ames were bought and paid for during prior straw polls. It's been going on since 1980 when George Bush #1 did it.

[Man from La Mancha]

It's not that simple. Most people, even RP supporters, don't really want to spend $35 a head plus gasoline to hear some windbags in Ames, to fund the existing establishment.

The voters in Ames were bought and paid for during prior straw polls. It's been going on since 1980 when George Bush #1 did it.

If the money goes to the republican fund in Iowa won't that money be used to help Paul if he win's there primary? Plus can many people in Iowa become delegates for the party and control it's funds?

[MozoVote]

That's a good question. My assumption is that it's really for the state party and local candidates.

[Avalon]

Assuming he's got over a million on hand, I think winning the straw poll would be worth $350k if it comes to that.

[damijin]

I think a lot of the responsibility falls on us as grass roots supporters. We need to help the Iowan supporters organize a carpool effort to bring in people from all over the state, and we should try to donate to cover the costs of the entry fee.

[ChrisM]

I think a special straw poll fund should be set up by an organization formed by RP supporters with the goal of raising $300,000. That's an easy way for maxed-out supporters to give more and for benefactors to know exactly to where their money is going.

[MozoVote]

I wonder what.. oh 200 volunteers driving rented vans would cost. You could probably move 5000 voters around in shuttle fashion. Multiple trips too, for Des Moines and nearby.

[rp4prez]

this made me think... is there a list of voting events that regular joes can go to in order to support Ron Paul? Maybe information about them, what you need to go, how much it cost, etc. This way everyone can plan out a strategy on how to organize people to get to these things and win them?

[MozoVote]

There are straw polls in other counties. Ames just gets more press because it's the state straw poll.

[Ronstock '08]

The ONLY reason RP polls at 2% is because 98% of Americans have never heard of Ron Paul. If you don't believe it, ask around.

Ron Paul can sell himself....our job is to get his name out there.

[quickmike]

The ONLY reason RP polls at 2% is because 98% of Americans have never heard of Ron Paul. If you don't believe it, ask around.

Ron Paul can sell himself....our job is to get his name out there.


I agree completely. Im beginning to have doubts about many of the Ron Paul supporters ability to talk to people and hit the streets. Sure the Meetup groups help alot, but you dont have to be in a group to hand out flyers and put out door hangers in your neighborhood. Ever RP supporter needs to do this as long as the mainstream ignores him, otherwise he cant win. Cant vote for someone that you dont know exists.

[MozoVote]

you dont have to be in a group to hand out flyers and put out door hangers in your neighborhood. Ever RP supporter needs to do this as long as the mainstream ignores him, otherwise he cant win.

My father was a candidate for Congress on a 3rd party ticket, and he had practically no money. He didn't even really know how to run a campaign, but he and a friend spent one Saturday hanging door flyers. He did get 15% of the vote in that one precinct, even though everywhere else was 5% or less.

Asking for votes works.

[quickmike]

My father was a candidate for Congress on a 3rd party ticket, and he had practically no money. He didn't even really know how to run a campaign, but he and a friend spent one Saturday hanging door flyers. He did get 15% of the vote in that one precinct, even though everywhere else was 5% or less.

Asking for votes works.

Yes it does, and it would be nice to start hearing stories in here about people going out and "pressin the flesh" in their area. So far I dont hear anybody talking about it, which sucks.

[Chester Copperpot]

It's not that simple. Most people, even RP supporters, don't really want to spend $35 a head plus gasoline to hear some windbags in Ames, to fund the existing establishment.

The voters in Ames were bought and paid for during prior straw polls. It's been going on since 1980 when George Bush #1 did it.

$35 is a small price to pay for freedom.... Everybody knows Ron Paul will get rid of the IRS.. people would be stupid NOT to pay $3500! let alone $35

[badmedia]

As that useelection site(can't think of name) points out. The polls are BS.

The 2% is a national average. But what it doesn't show, is that he is only listed in 5 out of around 30 polls taken, and even between those 5 polls, he is only listed in a total of 32 states.

So he is getting that 2% without even being polled in all states, while of course the others are. They don't even poll him in his home state of texas, where candidates traditional have the most support on those "polls".

They only use the obviously far from scientific polls as a reason to keep him out. The people who control those polls, do alot in controlling the election.

Those polls have like a +/- of around 5. The highest candidate polls around say 29%. That means he could be as low as 24%. Meanwhile say RP is at 3%(he is now i believe), he could be at 8%. Which is a huge difference considering the majority of the candiates are in the 10-15% range.

The polls have more margin of error than the difference of most of the candiates. Applying the margin of error, and suddenly you show the possibility that someone like paul, is really placing much higher than others. Only the possibility(which is what the offical numbers are too). Add in all the 0's he gets from states not listed in, and suddenly your average goes down even more.

That is why it looks a bit different in straw polls. But the media will still use their biased polls as a reason for not showing a candidate more.

[MozoVote]

People need to remember Iowa from the last campaign. Gephart and Dean slugged it out and bashed each other so badly with negative ads, that Kerry and Edwards nearly tied - simply because people were sick of the theatrics of the top candidates. The polls were all over the place and nobody expected a photo finish between those two.

This race is very fluid on both sides. I do not think anyone has solid support except Paul and perhaps Trancedo.

[Roxi]

Yes it does, and it would be nice to start hearing stories in here about people going out and "pressin the flesh" in their area. So far I dont hear anybody talking about it, which sucks.


just so you know...jay and I plus a couple others from our meetup group go out to local businesses coffee shops etc...passing out hundreds of flyers and info, we also leave a stack of ron paul business cards at every single business we stop into

and tonight we set up a canopy at our tulsa fireworks display which had over 100,000 people in attendance...we passed out hundreds of flyers and I bought over 600 flavr ice popcicles that we passed out for free...
right before we got there our camera got wet and is now broken, i did get a couple pics before that and a couple on jays camera phone...ill try to at least post the camera phone ones tomorrow

[Roxi]

ok heres the two i got before the camera died on me

putting out signs last night:
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/jaynroxi/mar07016_800x600.jpg


the booth we set up today: http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/jaynroxi/mar07017_800x600.jpg

and the back of our car: http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/jaynroxi/mar07014_800x600.jpg

[quickmike]

just so you know...jay and I plus a couple others from our meetup group go out to local businesses coffee shops etc...passing out hundreds of flyers and info, we also leave a stack of ron paul business cards at every single business we stop into

and tonight we set up a canopy at our tulsa fireworks display which had over 100,000 people in attendance...we passed out hundreds of flyers and I bought over 600 flavr ice popcicles that we passed out for free...
right before we got there our camera got wet and is now broken, i did get a couple pics before that and a couple on jays camera phone...ill try to at least post the camera phone ones tomorrow

Good deal !!!!

Im not trying to sound like an ass on here, or that im trying to tell anyone what to do. Im just trying to get everyone out there doing something real like you just described. Its the ONLY way we will even have a decent chance for the Republican nomination. Seems like alot are treating this like some kind of Fantasy Football kind of thing. Nice to hear the stories of real action, not just coming out in big groups , which is kind of a waste of resources when spreading a message by word of mouth. 50 people can get much more done individually than 50 people in a group walking down the street together. Spread out, hit the homes with flyers, hit the county fairs with pamphlets. Just get the word out.

Thanks for the words:D