Poll numbers not good for Rudy and Romney

I get blasted by Romney supporters whenever I write anything negative about Romney and I am certain this will be no different. In watching Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll some things are becoming clear, at least to me. Rudy has dropped in the last few days and while most people looking at the numbers can see that, what isn’t showing up is where those voters are going. Fred Thompson has been consistent at 21%-23%, Romney has been consistent at 13%-14%, and McCain has seen a bump lately that puts him at 13%-14%. Perhaps the undecided is growing.

The news doesn’t get better for Romney; I know he’s leading in Iowa and New Hampshire, big deal he should be leading in those states. The point is he’s losing ground in South Carolina where he trails Rudy, Fred, and McCain in most every poll. In Florida Romney is running 3^rd or 4^th in most polls, again staring up at Rudy, Fred, and McCain depending on the poll. In California, Rudy has a huge lead in most polls but Romney is running 2^nd in some places 3^rd in others. In Michigan the latest poll has Fred out front and Romney running 5^th behind the usual group but in addition he is behind Gingrich.

So looking at the current numbers it’s clear that Rudy is stagnant or dropping in the national numbers but has some big leads in some big states. Romney shows no movement nationally, he has good leads in two early states but their delegate counts are small and with many of the other states moving up within a couple of weeks of Iowa & NH that may not be enough. Fred has been consistent in the national polls, but is making strides in many of the state polls, especially in South Carolina and Florida. McCain in spite of himself some say, has managed to hang in there and is not getting out of this race before the end of September.

Romney has been getting by with his fundraising advantage but it’s not translating to leading polling numbers. No one knows what the fundraising numbers will look like for this quarter but several believe that they will be off significantly. Can Romney continue to get by with money, will the money start drying up without some significant progress in the polls? Unlike the democrats GOP voters have candidates that offer clear differences; all the democrats have is the fifty year old playbook of fear. The GOP candidate that successfully shows he is conservative, that he believes in the greatness of America, that person will be the next President.