Political Pundits Dismissed Texas Gov. Rick Perry After Debate Comments on Social Security.

Political Pundits Were Wrong

After calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme the mainstream political press dismissed Rick Perry’s chances for the Republican nomination.  By seeming to be attacking Social Security, the conventional wisdom went, Mr. Perry had severely damaged his chances.  As usual, the best all around political commentator on the scene, Jon Stewart, has it here.

Well now the first major poll since that debate is out, the CNN/ Opinion Research poll which was conducted September 9-11, and the findings are, well not was the professional political class was expecting.  CNN reports that

With Palin out of the running, the headline stays the same: Perry 32 percent, Romney 21 percent, Paul 13 percent and all other candidates, including Bachmann, in single digits.

"Perry doesn't simply have the most support in a hypothetical ballot - he also tops the list of GOP candidates on every personal quality tested," adds Holland.

Thirty-six percent, for example, see him as the strongest leader in the field, with Romney second at 21 percent. According to the poll, 35 percent say Perry is the Republican candidate most likely to get the economy moving again, with Romney in second at 26 percent.

Nearly three in ten say that Perry is the candidate who is most likely to fight for his beliefs, with Palin in second place at 23 percent and, significantly, Romney in a distant tie for fourth at just 11 percent.

But Perry's biggest strength may be the electability factor, with 42 percent saying he has the best chance of beating Obama next year. Some 26 percent say Romney has the best chance of defeating the president.

See, the pundits have failed to realize that this is a Republican primary, not the general election and that opposition to Social Security does not both the subset of the electorate that views that program as godless atheistic socialism.

Other News in the poll is that

1. Michelle Bachmann’s support has collapsed, as expected, to single digits  she gets 7% with Sarah Palin not in the race, but that’s better than her 4% with Ms. Palin in the race.

2. Jon Huntsman support has doubled, but this is not particularly good news since it only means his support has gone from 1% to 2%.

Well Mr. Huntsman, at least that is a start in the right direction.  If you can triple your support by the time of the next poll you will be at 6%!