Ben Carson leads in Gallup’s favorability poll

Donald Trump’s net favorable rating among Republicans increased significantly over the past two weeks, putting him among the top six Republicans overall on this measure.Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%‘s image also improved, while Carly Fiorina’s and Ben Carson’s images remain significantly better than they were before the Aug. 6 debate. John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are among those whose images worsened.

What is more interesting is what happens when Gallup cross references favorability with name recognition

The implication here is that Bush has crested, though one really wonders who doesn’t know Bush is running for president, with high name recognition and a very low favorability rating. Much the same can be said of Perry, Paul and Christie. The potential breakout candidates would seem to be Fiorina, Walker and Jindal who have good favorability numbers and would benefit from increased exposure.

One doesn’t know what to make of Ben Carson’s campaign. He is an immensely personable candidate who, in my opinion, seems both authoritative and insubstantial. We’ll have to wait until the next fundraising support to see if he has either capitalized on his popularity and poll numbers or gotten his campaign organization under control.

Via: Red State

Continue Reading.....

Donald Trump On Ben Carson: Doctors Don't Create Jobs

Donald Trump says he has great affection for Ben Carson, but he’s not so sure Carson has the right experience to be president.

The billionaire businessman and Republican presidential frontrunner explained why in an extensive interview with The Daily Caller that covered a wide array of subjects. The interview will be published in sections over the coming days.

A Monmouth University poll of Iowa released Monday showed Trump tied with Carson for first place — though Trump is quick to note that it was just one poll and that he leads the field, including Carson, in all the other recent polls.

But despite the rising threat of Carson in Iowa, Trump has not yet attacked the world-renowned neurosurgeon. Asked by TheDC whether being a doctor provides the necessary experience to be president, Trump said while Carson is  “a wonderful guy,” he thinks it would be “very tough” for someone who spent his life as a surgeon to handle the job.

“I think it’s a very difficult situation that he’d be placed in,” Trump elaborated. “He’s really a friend of mine, I just think it’s a very difficult situation that he puts himself into, to have a doctor who wasn’t creating jobs and would have a nurse or maybe two nurses. It’s such a different world. I’ve created tens of thousands of jobs over the years.”

In the past Trump has questioned whether Ted Cruz is eligible to be president because the Texas senator was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father. Cruz and Trump have since become something like BFFs on the campaign trail, refusing to criticize each other and even scheduled to appear together at an upcoming rally in Washington against the nuclear deal with Iran. Asked whether he still thinks Cruz might not be eligible to be president, Trump said, “based on everything I see, there’s no problem.”

“Because other people have brought it up, and it seems like the legal scholars have all been satisfied,” he went on. “It was never a big point for me, but I have watched other people question him, and the legal scholars have been satisfied.”

President Barack Obama has been criticized by many Republicans, including Trump, for his regular golf outings. But would Trump, who is an avid golfer and owns many golf courses throughout the world, regularly hit the links if he makes it to the Oval Office?

“The problem with the president, he’s played more than people on the PGA tour,” Trump quipped. “He plays a lot. He’s like a touring professional in terms of the amount of play.” (RELATED: Beck Was Obsessed With Proving That John Boehner Is An Alcoholic)

“Golf can be a great tool for making deals, but you can’t play with your friends, you have to play with people that you’re looking to — for instance, playing with [House Speaker] John Boehner and playing with [Senate leader Mitch] McConnell and playing with people that you need to make deals with,” Trump argued. “It can be an amazing tool for getting things done and for making deals.”

“With that being said, you want to play it the proper number of times,” he went on. “If the president would use golf as a tool more than he does, I think it would be very positive.”

Trump often cites how rich he is as a sign of his success and, in turn, a qualification to be President of the United States. By that standard, would someone richer than him, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, be more qualified for the presidency?

“That’s different,” Trump replied. “Honestly, I don’t think I’d swap assets, to be honest with you. I’ve seen that stuff go up and down. I have very, very solid stuff. To me, I love real estate because you can feel it. A lot of people, they’ll make five hundred million dollars by doing some new computer game, but I don’t consider that — I consider that sort of different. I consider that paper.”

“I did it in real estate,” he explained, “and as real estate goes, this is about as high as you go.”

Check back to TheDC over the coming days for more of our exclusive interview with Donald Trump.

Via: Larry Elder

Continue Reading.....

New National Poll: Trump At All Time High with Ben Carson Catching Up Big

Here’s the breakdown from the poll of all candidates. Note that Jeb Bush has indeed fallen, just as Trump said in his press conference:

 

I’m glad to see Ted Cruz in third, tied with Jeb, but I do wish his numbers were higher. At least he has been consistent throughout the year, even adding 2 points from that last poll. Perhaps he will explode to the top at some point. There’s still a lot of time and many debates left.

As always, here’s the lowdown on the poll:

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from August 31 to September 2, 2015 with 1,009 adults in the United States. This release is based on a sample of 366 registered voters who identify themselves as Republicans or lean toward the Republican Party. This voter sample has a margin of error of +5.1 percent. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.

Via: The Right Scoop

Continue Reading.....

Sanders, Carson rising in Iowa polls

The latest Des Moines Register poll is out today and it gives a boost to the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Dr. Ben Carson.

Sanders inched closer to Hillary Clinton 37-30 while Ben Carson drew nearer to Donald Trump 23-18. A significant result in the poll shows Carson and Trump tied when you factor in voters' first and second choices combined.

The poll result on the Democratic side will add a couple of levels of anxiety for Democrats over the sinking Hillary Clinton campaign, which now appers close to being in free fall.

Poll results include Vice President Joe Biden as a choice, although he has not yet decided whether to join the race. Biden captures 14 percent, five months from the first-in-the-nation vote Feb. 1. Even without Biden in the mix, Clinton falls below a majority, at 43 percent. 

"This feels like 2008 all over again," said J. Ann Selzer, pollster for the Iowa Poll. 

In that race, Clinton led John Edwards by 6 percentage points and Barack Obama by 7 points in an early October Iowa Poll. But Obama, buoyed by younger voters and first-time caucusgoers, surged ahead by late November. 

In this cycle, Sanders is attracting more first-time caucusgoers than Clinton. He claims 43 percent of their vote compared to 31 percent for Clinton. He also leads by 23 percentage points with the under-45 crowd and by 21 points among independent voters. 

Sanders, a Vermont U.S. senator, has become a liberal Pied Piper in Iowa not as a vote against Clinton, but because caucusgoers genuinely like him, the poll shows. An overwhelming 96 percent of his backers say they support him and his ideas. Just 2 percent say they're motivated by opposition to Clinton. 

Back in January, half of likely Democratic caucusgoers were unfamiliar with Sanders, who has been elected to Congress for 25 years as an independent. He has jumped from 5 percent support in January to 30 percent. Clinton, a famous public figure for decades, has dropped in that period from 56 percent to 37 percent. 

"These numbers would suggest that she can be beaten," said Steve McMahon, a Virginia-based Democratic strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns dating to 1980.

Via: American Thinker

Continue Reading......

Dr. Ben Carson Says Iran Deal Proves U.S. President Obama Is 'Anti-Semitic', Encourages Americans to Demand a 'Better Deal'

Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson recently asserted that "divider-in-chief" U.S. President Barack Obama's controversial nuclear deal with Iran proves he is anti-Semitic and encouraged American citizens to demand a "better deal" from Congress.

On this week's broadcast of "Fox News Sunday," the retired neurosurgeon further elaborated on earlier comments he made criticizing Obama's decision to significantly limit Tehran's nuclear ability in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.

"Well, all you have to do, Chris, is, like I have, go to Israel, and talk to average people, on all ends of that spectrum. And I couldn't find a single person there who didn't feel that this administration had turned their back on Israel," Dr. Carson told host Chris Wallace. "And I think the position of president of [the] United States should be one where you begin to draw people together behind a vision, not one where you castigate those who believe differently from you. I think it's a possibility for great healing, if it is used in the correct way."

Like Us on Facebook 

When asked what specifically is anti-Semitic "in what the president is saying," Carson, who is currently a top contender for the GOP nomination, responded, "I think anything is anti-Semitic that is against the survival of a state that is surrounded by enemies, and by people who want to destroy them. And to sort of ignore that, and to act like everything is normal there, and that these people are paranoid, I think that's anti-Semitic."

In an August op-ed for the Jerusalem Post titled "White House Employing Ugly Tactics to Sell a Rotten Iran Deal," Dr. Carson warned that the deal will enable $150 billion to "flow into the coffers of a rogue regime that systematically abuses the human rights of its own citizens, foments violence in the Middle East, funds terrorist proxies who have killed hundreds of American soldiers and whose leaders decry the United States as the 'Great Satan' and lead mass rallies featuring chants of 'Death to America.'"

He also criticized the Obama administration for failing to secure the release of four American hostages, including U.S. pastor Saeed Abedini, while negotiating with Iran, writing, "And let's not forget the American hostages who continue to suffer in captivity just as they did while talks proceeded apace and concluded with handshakes and smiles."

As Congress will vote next month on whether to approve or reject the deal, Dr. Carson encouraged the American people to "continue to demand a better deal with Iran that will dismantle Tehran's nuclear program and strengthen, rather than threaten, our nation's long-term security."

Dr. Carson is not the only Republican presidential hopeful to condemn the Iran deal: in a recent interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called such negotiations "insane."

"I think it is one of the most dangerous situations that we face, not just for the Middle East but for the rest of the world in a long time," the 2016 candidate said on Sunday.

"This is essentially arming and equipping a terrorist state," added Huckabee, who will travel to Israel this week to talk about the deal with leaders there, according to the New York Daily News. "The Iranian government is not to be trusted and we're being pushed to get into a deal that gives us nothing but gives the Iranians the capacity to ultimately end up with a nuclear weapon."

Via: Gospel Herald

Continue Reading....

Ben Carson: People Are Beginning To Realzie That "Same Old, Same Old" Will Take Us To The Same Place

Via: RealClearPolitics

Continue Reading......

YEAR OF THE OUTSIDER: TRUMP, CARSON SURGE IN IOWA

A new poll from CNN/ORC finds Donald Trump dominating likely caucus-goers in Iowa. Somewhat more surprising, though, is that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has surged into second place, edging out long-time Iowa frontrunner Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The poll, of more than 5oo caucus-goers, found Trump in first with 22 percent, followed by Carson with 14 percent. Walker dropped to third, with just 9 percent support.

Texas 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

 followed with 8 percent. Businesswoman Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee were just behind Cruz with 7 percent each.

More establishment candidates including Florida 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)

80%

and Jeb Bush have faded to the back of the crowded field, with just 5 percent support each. They are tied with 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

93%

 from Kentucky. The other candidates have 3 percent or less.

The poll is the latest evidence that the the early innings of the 2016 are not strictly just a story about Donald Trump. The larger dynamic is that voters are rejecting  any candidate who is seen as tied to the Washington Republican establishment.

Political pundits may try to dismiss the Trump surge as something unique to his nearly ubiquitous personality, but the rise of candidates including Carson, Fiorina, Cruz and, to some extent Walker, shows an eagerness by voters to break with anything that reeks of Washington or the establishment.

Trump’s edge with voters rests on their belief that he is the best candidate to tackle the economy, foreign policy and illegal immigration. Almost half of caucus-goers, 44 percent, say he is the candidate most likely to change the way Washington works.

Trump is weakest with voters who describe themselves as “very conservative.” Those voters, who historically make up a large share of the caucus, prefer Carson, at 25 percent, followed by Cruz and Walker, each with 15 percent, with Trump in third, with 12 percent support. Among evangelical Christians, though, Trump ties Carson for first, each with 18 percent. Cruz at 12 percent, Huckabee 11 and Walker 10.

The two groups, “very conservative” and evangelicals will likely make up around 60 percent of those attending a caucus.

A caucus operates very differently from a primary election. To be successful in a caucus, a candidate needs very energized supporters, who may have to devote an hour or more to the voting process.

This will give the edge to candidates who are clearly distinct from Republican leadership in Washington. Whether its Trump, Carson or Cruz on the right or Vermont 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

16%

 on the left, voters are fed-up with Washington.

This year is shaping up as the year of the outsider.

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading....

The surgical precision of Ben Carson by Herman Cain

Cuts like a scalpel.

 Ben Carson surprised me a little during Thursday night’s debate – not that I didn’t think he would do well. I had just interviewed him on The Herman Cain Show a few days earlier and I knew he was prepared and ready for whatever questions would be thrown at him.

But I was nevertheless impressed by the surgical precisions of some of his answers. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, since after all he is a brain surgeon. But for a guy who doesn’t have much experience on a stage this big, he really knew how to get down to it.

He would take on Hillary Clinton, he said, by coming against the Alinsky model that assumes people are stupid, and counts on stupid people to serve as the useful idiots that Democrats need in order to govern. Dr. Carson said his approach would not be to try to fool people but to educate them, which demonstrates that he understands something we say on this show all the time: The American people are smart enough to make the right decisions if they have all the facts. As it stands right now, the media don’t give them all the facts so leaders who are interested in the truth are going to have to do it.

There’s a difference between being dumb and being misinformed. The American people are not dumb but they’re misinformed by the mainstream media. Dr. Carson understands this well.

He also had shared a wonderful answer he gave an NPR reporter who wondered why he doesn’t talk about race more often. (Of course, I know only too well about the expectation of white liberal journalists that black men in the public arena need to constantly talk about race, as if we have no business talking about anything else.) Dr. Carson explained that as a neurosurgeon, he sees inside people and gets a clear look at what really makes people who they are.

And it’s not their skin. This will come as news to the liberal media and to the Democrat Party, which are completely obsessed with race and think it is the key to everything in life. But what Dr. Carson understands (as do I) is that what really defines you is what’s inside you – the content of your character and your commitment to know what’s right and do it.

Finally, he answered a question about his presumed lack of political experience by reminding everyone that the greatness of this nation did not result from having lots of politicians around. It came, rather, from the ingenuity of the people in all walks of life. I’ve always found it hilarious in a sad sort of way that the political crowd judges people unworthy of service because they’ve spend their lives as something other than politicians. I thought I would have been a good president precisely because that’s not my background. My achievements have been in the private sector, where they expect results.

By the way, Dr. Carson’s achievements are in the field of science, which I thought the left considered one of the most highly esteemed fields imaginable. Isn’t that why they’re always going around complaining that Republicans are “anti-science”? You can’t very well be a neurosurgeon and be “anti-science.” Unless, of course, all “pro-science” really means is pro-left wing nonsense used to justify the same tired old left wing ideas Democrats have been pushing since time immemorial.

Via: Canada Free Press

Continue Reading....

HERE’S ERICK ERICKSON EXPLAINING WHY BEN CARSON ISN’T AT THE ‘RED STATE GATHERING’

The “Red State Gathering” already made headlines by disinviting Donald Trump from the event after his comments about Megyn Kelly, but they made some others even more angry by not inviting Ben Carson at all.

Here’s Erick Erickson’s explanation on why he wasn’t invited:

What do ya’ll think? Reasonable or not?

Via: Red State

Continue Reading....

[VIDEO] Ben Carson: ‘I Used to Be a Flaming Liberal’

I had the chance to speak with Dr. Ben Carson recently about the Planned Parenthood scandal, his views on America’s growing debt and something I’ve always wanted to ask a brain surgeon…how do you explain the liberal brain?

You can watch the full video or jump to specific topics via the time codes below:

0:05 – Carson discusses how he hopes the current scandal surrounding Planned Parenthood will cause the black community to explore the organization’s history.

1:02 – As a doctor, Carson is well-known for his views opposing Obamacare, but I asked him what he believes are the other most pressing issues facing the country.

1:56 – How does Carson, a neurosurgeon, explain the liberal brain? He begins his answer by explaining he used to have one.

3:39 – Carson explains that most of what he talks about are not really “Republican” or “Democrat” things, but instead are American things—and he goes on to explain his view on American exceptionalism.

Via: Daily Signal

Continue Reading.....

CLINTON FOUNDATION DONOR-OWNED POLITICO PUBLISHES HIT PIECE ON DR. BEN CARSON

On Tuesday, Politico ran an article with this blaring headline: “Ben Carson’s Godly Riches: He reaped $2 million in fees from Christian groups in 2014 alone. Now he wants their votes.”

The headline, which implies some sort of hypocrisy on Dr. Carson’s part, is belied by the actual content of the article.

“Clearly if you were to read in great detail Politico’s article, they are clearly only admonishing Dr. Carson in their headline and not the true substance of their story,” Armstrong Williams, Dr. Carson’s business manager, tells Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.

“The reason being they truly had nothing to report,” Williams notes.

Politico, which is owned by Clinton Foundation donor Robert Allbritton, failed to point out in the article that during that same time period Hillary Clinton charged speaking fees ranging from $200,000 to $325,000, and Bill Clinton charged $250,000 for his average speaking fee. In 2010, Bill Clinton was paid a $500,000 speaking fee by a Russian company. Even former first daughter Chelsea Clinton charged speaking fees of $65,000, well in excess of Dr. Carson’s fees.

In 2014, Dr. Carson’s speaking fees ranged from $12,320 to $48,500.

During roughly the same period of time that Dr. Ben Carson earned $2 million in speaking fees, Bill and Hillary Clinton together earned $25 million in speaking fees.

The actual facts of Dr. Carson’s 2014 speaking engagements reported by Politico do not match the article’s somewhat sensationalist headline.

One fundraiser at which Carson spoke “brought in a net profit of $150,000,” after Carson’s fee was paid, the article reports.

At another fundraiser, the host organization was very pleased with the outcome of Carson’s speaking engagement. “He did a really good job for us in bringing in people who may not have known about HopeWorks,” the group’s executive director Ron Wade toldPolitico.

“They couldn’t find anything negative or controversial about Dr. Carson’s speaking engagements,” Carson’s business manager Williams says.

When asked about Politico’s failure to report the vastly higher speaking fees charged by Hillary, Bill, and even Chelsea Clinton, Williams is quick to point out Politico’s bias.

“Without a doubt the good Dr. Carson is held to a different standard,” Williams says. “It’s nitpicking by Politico. There’s really nothing negative they can report.”

The Politico bias, Williams argues, is as apparent from the people the authors chose not to interview as it is of those they chose to interview.

“Politico could not find anyone who was not satisfied with Dr. Carson’s speaking engagement. Imagine the many individuals interviewed for the article that were not included, because they had high praise for the good doctor.”

Williams’ comments support the perception that Politico is often a “mouthpiece” for establishment Republicans as well as the Democrat elites. “A lot of these sources Politico used are coming from within the establishment,” he says.

Carson’s strong showing in the polls has had an impact on his rivals for the Republican Presidential nomination, Williams argues. “Republican establishment candidates are very threatened by Dr. Carson,” he tells Breitbart News. “The establishment media consistently are searching for phony reasons to negate his immense popularity,” he adds.

From a strategic perspective, Carson offers something establishment Republicans can’t provide—appeal to disaffected conservative voters.

“Dr. Carson is popular among many conservative Christians and Millennials who did not vote in the last presidential election,” Armstrong says.

Currently, “outsiders” like Dr. Carson, Donald Trump , 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

, and Carly Fiorina appear to be gaining traction, while more establishment- oriented candidates appear to be languishing.

“That article is trying to negate the progress and phenomenal gains Dr. Carson is making as an outsider,” Williams says.

The popularity of “outsider” candidates in the Republican Presidential primary field is likely to continue its upward movement in spite of Politico’s transparent and unsuccessful attempts to discredit them.

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading.....

Ben Carson On The Trump Uproar: ‘It’s The PC Police Out In Force’

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson lamented Monday that the uproar over Donald Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants indicates some people seem more interested in calling out violations of political correctness than discussing the issue of illegal immigration.

“It’s the P.C. police out in force,” Carson, a former neurosurgeon, said in a Monday interview with The Daily Caller. “They want to make very clear that this is a topic you’re not supposed to bring up.”

It’s been almost three weeks since Trump, in his speech announcing a run for president, accused illegal immigrants from Mexico of being “rapists” who bring drugs and crime into the country. Since then, Trump has taken heat from rival presidential candidates, companies he has business deals with and members of the media who say his comments were offensive.

“It will be interesting to see what their reaction is to the shooting in San Francisco,” Carson said of Trump’s critics.

(Last week, a 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed on San Francisco’s Pier 14. The shooter is believed to be an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal history who had been deported several times.)

Carson, no stranger to outcries over his colorful statements, argued Trump’s comments are the wrong thing to focus on.

“What we really need to be talking about is how do we take care of our illegal immigration problem,” he said. “I’ve talked about that extensively. And the key thing is we have to secure all our borders—north, south, east and west.”

“And it doesn’t have to be a fence or wall,” Carson added. “That’s stupid. We have all kinds of electronic surveillance devices, drones, not to mention people. So we can do it. And then turn off the spigot that dispenses all the things that they are coming here to get. Then there won’t be any reason for them to do it.”

“I mean that’s pretty simple, and straightforward,” he said. “And I think everybody knows that. That’s there’s the ability to do it, there’s not the will to do it. It’s too juicy a political football.”

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading....

[COMMENTARY] Ben Carson Gains As Non-establishment Candidate

Former pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson continues to rise in the polls, despite having never held political office, and political commentator Byron York says that part of the reason is because he is a very appealing candidate. 

Carson is in fourth place in the Real Clear Politics average of polls with support from 9.4 percent of Republican voters, and that number has slowly risen since he first announced his candidacy in early May, when he was at 4.8 percent. 

Special: Can Ted Cruz Take On the GOP Establishment?

In addition, the former neurosurgeon won the straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver over the weekend, the Washington Examiner reported. 

York, who writes for the Washington Examiner, gives five reasons why Carson is so popular among conservative audiences: First, "Carson is really appealing." 

He appears to stand apart from the categories that other candidates fit in, whether it's old vs. new, governor vs. senator, populist vs. establishment, and the like. 

Second, as a candidate who has never held office before, "he speaks to the throw-'em-out strain among conservatives." 

Carson told the conservative group in Denver that "the professional pundits say, 'You can't do it because you're not a politician.' I would say I can do it because I'm not a politician."

York says that this appeals to conservatives who are fed up with politicians, even Republican politicians. 

Third, there are a group of Republicans who like Carson's "it's-really-very-simple commonsense approach to complex issues." 

A fourth reason for his appeal is partly because he is the only black candidate running for the Republican nomination, and "he might appeal to that part of the Republican mind that has been scarred by years of accusations of racism." 

Lastly, "Carson projects a serenity and faith" that is also attractive to some. 

Whatever the reason, York says that "Carson's rise and unorthodox campaign style ... has left some of his rivals baffled." 

Via: Newsmax

Continue Reading....