Interesting, but I don’t know how useful pre-Bialek polls are now. Once you’ve got an accuser willing to stand behind her name and in front of a camera, public perceptions are bound to change. (They’re changing already on InTrade.) Unless her story falls apart quickly, these numbers will be different next week, so this is worth noting more for comparison purposes later than on their fleeting merits.
In the poll, 54 percent of Republican voters say they aren’t concerned about voting for Cain after these allegations, while another 15 percent say they are “just a little” concerned…
In October’s NBC/WSJ survey, 24 percent of all respondents had a positive impression of the ex-Godfather’s Pizza CEO, and 18 percent had a negative impression of him.
But according to this new poll, that negative number has jumped up to 35 percent, while 23 percent have a positive opinion of Cain.
Thirteen percent of Republicans say they’re concerned a “great deal” or “quite a bit” by the allegations but there’s no way to know if that’s significant without knowing who those voters currently favor. If they’re all committed to Romney and Perry, then meh. If they’re undecided, that’s a big deal. Meanwhile, new from Gallup:
That’s good news for Cain (and really good news for Newt), but I wonder how much higher his numbers would have been if not for last week’s media mudslide. Yeah, he’s tied for the lead with Romney, but he exceeded 21 percent in 10 of the last 11 national polls taken. Fifty-three percent of Republicans tell Gallup that the charges against Cain are “probably” or “definitely” not true, but again, this is a pre-Bialek poll. Here’s a fun stat, though:
Republicans with an opinion are inclined to say Cain has done a good job (45%) rather than a bad job (36%) of handing the charges, although almost one in five don’t have an opinion.
If publicly accusing Perry of a “despicable” smear without any hard evidence is handling it well, I’m keen to know what handling it badly looks like. Exit question one: Time for Romney to go for broke in Iowa? If Cain really does start to fade now, I think he’ll find it irresistible. Exit question two: What’s really going to hurt Cain more in the long run? He said/she saids with former NRA employees, or answers like this?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member