Via the Houston Chronicle we have an illustration of why running as a third party candidate tends to fail (Texas voters likely to re-elect Perry):
A majority of likely Texas voters say they are unhappy with the job Republican Rick Perry has done as governor, but he is likely to win re-election because his opposition remains splintered, according to a new poll conducted for the Houston Chronicle and KHOU-TV.Perry leads a five-person field with 38 percent support, according to the survey. Democrat Chris Bell has 22 percent support, and independent Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has 21 percent — a statistical tie. Independent Kinky Friedman trails badly at 10.5 percent, and Libertarian James Werner has just 1 percent support.
If Strayhorn had really wanted to be Governor of the State of Texas, she should have sought the Democratic nomination. For that matter if Bell, Strayhorn and Kinky really want Perry to lose (and not just to serve their own ego), then someone (or someones need to drop out of the race and form an electoral alliance.
This is one of those cases where it would be quite fascinating to see what the results would be if there was a run-off requirement.
October 31st, 2024 at 7:55 am
[...] Dr. Steven Taylor at Poliblog comments on Texas’ strange and disappointing governor’s race, where the unpopular incumbent leads in the polls. (FWIW — Polimom voted for Strayhorn last week.) [...]