The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

WOW! Latest Rasmussen Poll: Cain 26%, Romney 23%, Gingrich 14%
UPDATE: Wrong: Data From Nov. 3

Posted on | November 24, 2011 | 18 Comments

This is shocking:

The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 21-22, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. . . .
Among likely GOP primary voters nationwide, Romney is just behind businessman Herman Cain with 23 percent support; Cain earns 26 percent of the vote and Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in third with 14 percent support. Romney runs best in New Hampshire – where he picks up a commanding 41 percent of the vote — but falls short of Cain in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida.

A sudden Gingrich meltdown? Cain on top in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida? Wow. Just . . . wow.

UPDATE: False alarm, folks. This article includes two different sets of polling data. The head-to-head match-ups with Obama — the lead item in the NewsMax story — is from Nov. 21-22. The nationwide GOP primary voter information is from Nov. 3, before Gingrich’s recent surge.

UPDATE II: I feel bad about having jumped the gun on that NewsMax story. What happened was, I was live-Tweeting AMC’s showing of The Godfather, when somebody Tweeted me those Rasmussen numbers. My brain exploded: “Holy crap!”

It took me about 15 minutes to read the NewsMax story and compose a post. Then it took another 8 minutes to sign up for the Rasmussen 3-day trial, discover that the story had been misreported, and post the correction.

I shouldn’t have pulled the trigger so fast on the original post, but the numbers were so shocking — an apparent reversal of fortune — that it would have been major news, so I rushed to get it online.

Hot-headed, just like Sonny Corleone, eh? My apologies.

Category: Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Polls

Comments

18 Responses to “WOW! Latest Rasmussen Poll: Cain 26%, Romney 23%, Gingrich 14%
UPDATE: Wrong: Data From Nov. 3”

  1. American Spring
    November 24th, 2011 @ 11:33 pm

    Newt Gingrich is now the poster boy for the DNC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_vrNm4DJoI

  2. smitty
    November 24th, 2011 @ 11:41 pm

    You tease.

  3. Christopher Anderson
    November 24th, 2011 @ 11:42 pm

    Irresponsible reporting on the part of NewsMax… problem with journalism today. It takes 10 seconds extra to do it right. *sigh*

  4. johnchagen
    November 24th, 2011 @ 11:45 pm

    very poorly written post by newsmax would not have been hard for them to make that clear.

  5. Anonymous
    November 24th, 2011 @ 11:49 pm

    Well, they reported it almost exactly the same as Rasmussen article did. The problem is that (evidently) they didn’t follow the link in the Rasmussen article to realize the data on the GOP national survey was from Nov. 3.

  6. Anonymous
    November 24th, 2011 @ 11:53 pm

    I compared to RCP and saw the Nov. 3 numbers were the same. I had to sign up for the free 3-day trial at Rasmussen to be able to check the story and make sure what had happened. As reported by NewsMax — without the link to the GOP primary data — it looked wrong. Frankly, I shouldn’t have jumped so fast. Took me 8 minutes to fix it.

  7. ThePaganTemple
    November 25th, 2011 @ 12:08 am

    I knew that wasn’t right the second I saw it.

  8. Anonymous
    November 25th, 2011 @ 12:15 am

    I read Newt just got busted with a bag of weed, you’re in luck lol

  9. edward royce
    November 25th, 2011 @ 1:04 am

    Hey it could be worse.  You could have reported Meghan McCain has joined the race for President.

  10. Finrod Felagund
    November 25th, 2011 @ 3:08 am

    The latest CNN/Opinion Research national polling is mild good news for Cain, though.  Comparing their latest (11/18 thru 11/20) with their previous (11/11 thru 11/13) gives:

    Gingrich 24 (+2)
    Romney 20 (-4)
    Cain 17 (+3)
    Perry 11 (-1)
    Paul 9 (+1)
    Bachmann 5 (-1)
    Santorum 4 (+1)

    When you’re falling in the polls, you need to see news that you’ve stopped the bleeding so you can rise again.  This poll is that kind of news.
     

  11. Bosun349
    November 25th, 2011 @ 8:03 am

    “… it would have been major news, so I rushed to get it online.” 
    This mindset is one of the biggest problems with journalism now. It embraces a host of what used to be considered the worst possible practices in the trade:1) Not caring whether the information you publish is true2) Foregoing original reporting in favor of copy-and-paste3) Prioritizing speed above accuracy4) Believing everything you hearJournalists from Wolf Blitzer on down think like this. They are guaranteed to get burned, but don’t/can’t change when it happens.

  12. Anonymous
    November 25th, 2011 @ 8:31 am

    If you’ve read any of Stacy’s posts about working for Wes Pruden at the Washington Times, you would realize he agrees with those sentiments. Which is why he came back with a mea culpa and immediately ate some crow  – all on his own.

  13. Bosun349
    November 25th, 2011 @ 9:43 am

    I’m sure Wolf Blitzer “agrees” with those sentiments in principle, too. But if he continues to reject them in his actual practice of journalism, this will keep happening to him again and again:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2HsVAttcGA

  14. Anonymous
    November 25th, 2011 @ 11:28 am

    Those numbers are just a sign of things to come 🙂

  15. Bob Belvedere
    November 25th, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

    You’ll have to answer for Newsmax, Santino.

  16. Bob Belvedere
    November 25th, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

    You may be a hot-head, Santino, but you’re a great wartime Don…and we’re at war.

  17. No Correction from Cain Camp Over Fundraising Lies | Daily Pundit
    November 26th, 2011 @ 10:20 pm

    […] that in fact, this particular Rasmussen poll was not conducted November 21-22, but November 2. Via Robert Stacy McCain, it appears that the mistake can be traced back to a confusing Newsmax […]

  18. Mr. Bad Day
    November 27th, 2011 @ 8:05 am

    “Friends of Herman Cain” send me stuff all time. (They think I’m a supporter!) They sent an email, from Herman Cain, boasting about the reverse. So you’re not alone!