Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Church Poll Results

Update, I cast the first vote in my entire town.
Ron Paul 1. The rest 0.

Today is 'Super Tuesday' which means many states will be holding their republican and democratic primaries today. I thought I'd share the results of our church secret ballot poll which was taken after a 4 Sunday evening series studying the candidates and the issues.

Pick one democrat
17 Abstain
10 Obama
8 Clinton
8 Edwards

Pick one republican
13 Paul
12 Huckabee
6 Romney
6 McCain
3 Giuliani
2 Thompson
1 Abstain

15 comments:

Robin said...

I find it interesting how many people abstained from even choosing a democrat in a hypothetical situation. If the question was which is the best from EACH party, not which is the best over all... why not?

Aaron Perry said...

LOL. Was your presentation of these issues "fair and balanced" to the point that Ron Paul led the way?? :) (That was really said in jest, btw.)

matthew said...

Robin...

Yes, I was very surprised that so many people abstained from picking a democrat. I made it very clear that they were to vote for 1 of each.

Aaron...

Haha, while I never mentioned my support for Ron Paul in particular, I'm sure in the QA dialogue my support for some of his positions was evident.

Actually, I could see by facial expressions which issues got him votes. The attenders were very impressed with his consistency in voting for less government, smaller taxes, his boldness in declaring that life begins at conception, his advocacy of the gold standard, and, to some degree, the fact that he's the only candidate that actually voted against the war in Iraq in the first place.

One question I considered putting on the quiz was "Based on presentation, who do you think Pastor Matt supports?"

That would have been interesting, but some of them read my blog so it wouldn't really have been fair.

Dena said...

I find it interesting that the two leading repubs in your poll are the two lowest nationally (unfortunately).

matthew said...

well, my poll was biased. It was a poll of only 'informed' voters.

Kirk said...

I had the same thought Aaron did. I've read some statements attributed to Ron Paul and he is a scary scary man.

matthew said...

Like what Kirk? I've been researching this guy for months now and I haven't seen legitimate outstanding criticisms?

I can understand someone disagreeing with his platform. He's a non-interventionist. Some people like wars. He's for the gold standard. Some people like inflation. He's for getting rid of the income tax. Some people like big government. He believes life begins at conception. Some people like to the freedom to cover up their sins. He against the feds making longer and longer lists of rules and regulations. Some people like to legislate morality.

I'm be curious to know your beef?

Robin said...

Knowing Kirk, he's probably just stirring the turd. Either that or he's a flaming liberal.

theajthomas said...

All Liberals are flaming Robin - or at least working to promote the flaming agenda.

Kirk said...

Robin is right I was just stirring the pot but I will say I may or may not agree with many of Ron Paul's statements but he won't have a chance of being elected next election. I actually did a search of why people don't like Ron Paul and the number one response I kept getting was he doesn't seem to care where his monetary support comes from. It seems like anti-Semites, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis are among his biggest supporters both financially and in open campaigning including former KKK member David Duke. I realize you can't help who decides to choose you but why are they seemingly and openly supporting him in droves. (this was the best I could do and actually don't think Paul is a racist or an antiSemite)

Aaron Perry said...

Dr. No knows how to raise the dough!

matthew said...

Hey Kirk :)

Here are the reasons I've seen for rejecting Ron Paul

1. Some wicked groups support him
2. He doesn't have a chance
3. Government wouldn't follow him

I think all of these are legitimate, but I will now argue against all 3 positions

1. There are some wicked people who support Paul b/c he is a partial libertarian. His view is that sins done privately or b/w consenting parties should not be legislated against by the federal government. But it's not that Paul is FOR such sins, it's that he's for getting the federal government out of individual lives. Prohibition didn't work. It made things worse. Paul believes when the federal government gets involved in such things, the problems get worse. And as government has gotten larger and larger in the US, his case is being made.

2. First of all, while I don't think he is going to win, he does have a strategy. His strategy is that nobody will get the 1190 necessary delegates and that the nomination will be up for grabs at the republican convention. Once that occurs, all the delegates are free to change their votes from who the public told them to vote for to who they prefer. All reports indicate that many of the delegates are Paul supporters. But secondly, I don't even care if he has a chance. I agree with him so I voted for him. My state will go to Hillary anyways!

3. I think this is the best argument against Paul, but, once again, the alternative is giving up and caving in.

Aaron...yep, his campaign has been smart to utilize the internet so much in terms of finances. Unfortunately, it seems most internet users aren't registered voters!

Jo said...

Go Obama! That's all I have to say about that.

Kirk said...

Wow that was fast. I really don't have anything against him but I feel like going into this election the U.S. needs a strong leader who can help with the mess in Iraq. I like McCain for that. I believe when it comes to the military most Americans would trust him over all the other candidates. I would vote McCain for this election and then possibly Obama in 4 years iif I had the choice. Just not Hillary!!! I swear that woman exudes evil.

Kirk said...

P.S. check out Jo's new post. i helped.