Following the established rules of the Pajamas Media Straw Poll, Ron Paul, winner of the twenty-fifth week among the Republican candidates, has been dropped from the poll for the forthcoming period. Paul did not make the required minimum number of one percent on the most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll.
Despite heavy support from Internet groups for some time, the Texas Congressman continues not to make a dent on national polls. While our evidence is only anecdotal (many email complaints), Pajamas Media editors suspect that targeted voting by Paul supporters on this and other open polls may even be hurting their candidate because the public is turned off by his supporters’ behavior.
Jim Gilmore, who also did not reach one percent in the Gallup Poll, has similarly been dropped from the Pajamas Poll. Gilmore has subsequently withdrawn his candidacy.
Bill Richardson continues to lead on the Democratic side.
On the question of which candidates get to be in the poll, Pajamas Media continues to receive requests from supporters of a long list of candidates to have their favorites included. Some of these candidates are quite well known, but others we have never even heard of. We want to be as open as possible, but we have to draw the line somewhere to keep our poll credible and to do so on an evenhanded basis. For that reason, some time ago Pajamas Media announced that our baseline for inclusion would be that the candidate must have one percent in the most recent Gallup Poll. That rule remains in force and the candidate list readjusted accordingly every Sunday night.
As we go forward into Labor Day and more serious campaigning, Pajamas Media will be reevaluating this standard.
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