Bouncing all over the map, a New York Times/CBS poll showed barely audible 63-year-old former pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson closing within 4% of front-runner 69-year-old real estate mogul and former reality TV star Donald Trump. What the poll really shows is how utterly worthless polls have become at this stage of the race, some four months before Iowans start caucusing. While Trump and Carson eclipse the other 14 GOP candidates pulling 27% and 24% respectively, the poll also shows why both candidates have surged in recent weeks. Whoever’s responding in the polls, they’re seeking a protest candidate, someone outside the Beltway. Carson’s so far outside politics, he can’t answer the most basic questions about domestic and foreign policy, much like Trump. Pre-voting respondents are simply telling Washington insiders to get their acts together.
Once considered the GOP front-runner having raised over $100 million, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finds himself at a measly 6% in the same poll, spotting whopping margins to Trump and Carson. Neither candidate can get down to specifics because they lack familiarity with basic domestic and foreign policy issues. Carson’s been so vague he limits his comments to veiled warnings about the direction of the country, despite strong economic indicators showing the country’s moving in the right direction. Trump, too, calls the economy a “disaster,” despite the slew of published metrics by the Labor and Commerce Departments and Federal Reserve Board, showing the economy has made great strides since Obama took office Jan. 20, 2009. With the stock market 300% higher, federal budget deficits cut two-thirds under $400 billion and the nation’s GDP growing by over 3%, all look positive.
Trump and Carson’s rise in the polls mirror the public’s disgust with Washington’s business-as-usual. Tired of the gridlock and bickering between the two major parties, the pre-voting public looks for sideshows for entertainment. While there’s little entertaining listening to Carson mumble, voters packed 20,000 in the American Airlines Arena in Dallas to hear Trump rant about just about everything, especially his fellow GOP candidates. As Iowans look to an outsider and fresh face, informed voters can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Watching GOP candidates beat each other up is good news for Hillary, whose likely Democratic nomination matches up well against any of the GOP’s less experienced candidates. Carson thinks separating conjoined twins prepares him to run the nation’s domestic and foreign policy, something yet-to-be-seen in real primary voters.
Dropping to just 2%, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has watched his presidential fortunes vanish, just like Bush in recent weeks. Trump and Carson look like they have wind at their backs heading into tomorrow’s CNN debate. “There are those who say, ‘You don’t have elected political experience,’” Carson said at a campaign rally in Anaheim. “But if you look at the elected political experience of everybody in Congress, it comes out to about 8,700 years. Where has it gotten us?” asked Carson, turning logic on its head. No responsible voter buys Carson’s nonsense that experience, in any field, is a bad thing. Carson calls all elected experience worthless because he has none. Telling voters that experience isn’t necessary is the most self-serving rubbish imaginable, attesting to Carson’s smoke-blowing skills, convincing voters to pick a neophyte like him to lead the country.
Carson’s made some of the most outrageous campaign gaffes of any candidate, calling Obama a “psychopath” and homosexuality a “choice.” He wears his Christian faith on his sleeve, something that appeals to Iowa’s evangelical voters. “The fact of the matter is our system is really designed for citizen statesman. It was not designed for the professional politician,” insisted Carson, insisting his lack of experience uniquely qualifies him for president. If that’s not hogwash, what is? Since he has no experience with domestic or foreign policy, he spews utter nonsense about how a lack of knowledge and inexperience is a bonus. Disparaging “professional politicians,” Carson asks voters to accept his lack of knowledge and experience as a plus. Recent polls show that there’s zero correlation between today’s front-runners and the candidate, once voting begins, to eventually prevail.
Today’s polls mirror the disgust pre-voters have with the Washington establishment, which, under President Barack Obama, hasn’t delivered the post-partisan presidency promised in 2008. When Barack forced Obamacare on the GOP signing the Affordable Care Act into law March 23, 2010, he began an era of unprecedented partisanship. Watching Washington convulse with partisan hate, the public’s so disgusted with what went down, they’re rebelling against experienced politicians. Had Obama had more experience in the ways of Washington, he’s wouldn’t have let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev.) hijack his presidency, forcing Obamacare on the GOP. National legislation needs more consensus to assure satisfaction on both sides of the aisle. Whatever history eventually shows, Obama squandered his chance to bring folks together.
