Ben Carson is a very popular man these days

[Attorney in Texas]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Sissyk (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Washington Post

Dr. Ben Carson is better liked than fellow political outsiders Donald Trump or Carly Fiorina among both Republicans and political independents in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, even as many have not heard of the famed pediatric neurosurgeon.

... Trump and Fiorina -- get more mixed reviews from the public at large.

Trump's ratings are upside-down at 35 percent favorable and 60 percent unfavorable, while Fiorina receives a 35-30 favorable-unfavorable split. More than one-third have no opinion of Fiorina (35 percent) at this point.

... Trump nearly matches Carson on positive ratings (62 percent), but his unfavorable ratings are about twice as high (34). Republicans give Fiorina a narrower positive split (47-27), though over one-quarter still have no opinion on the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/30/ben-carson-is-a-very-popular-man-these-days/

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Carson = "None of the Above"

The real headline is that neither Trump nor Fiorina are well liked.

[oberliner]

1. He is the strangest of them all

He isn't even really able to put together an inspiring speech like Trump or Carly can do. And his views are way ultra-religious and crazy.

[pnwmom]

4. He's the biggest threat to us of them all.

We underestimate him at our peril.

He might have extreme views, but he comes across as a soft-spoken person who can laugh at himself. And people will figure he must be smart because he's a doctor.

He's going to have one of the spots on the ticket, and he might lead it.

[Darb]

9. Have to disagree. He's a implosion waiting to happen.

He has already proven that he is pretty much a religio-fascist. Eventually he will say something even the Repukes cannot let slide.

He's a sheltered, willfully ignorant tool of the right. He only got where he is because the Repukes need to attempt to prove they aren't fundamentally a racist party. He will never win. Never. He's peaked.

I am afraid it is going to be Bush. He will bide his time and let the others rise and fall and he will be all that is left and Hillary will kill him.

[oberliner]

13. I really don't think he will end up on the ticket

Certainly not at the top. I can see him getting some kind of cabinet post or something.

My prediction is Rubio or possibly Bush. Maybe Carly as the #2.

[spinbaby]

15. Soft spoken?

I think he comes across as heavily sedated.

[Kelvin Mace]

18. Sorry, not a threat

The man is borderline delusional. People hear him talk and always ask the same question:

Was he REALLY a doctor?

[Chakab]

7. Yeah, but he's willing to spout theocratic dogma and he has more leeway to go around shitting on

non-whites and non-Christians en masse in the media than the other candidates, so they love him.

I bet that Jindal is really upset that a guy who isn't even a real politician was able to come in and steal his thunder as the self-loathing minority candidate.

This is the problem with incessantly pandering to idiots and espousing know-nothingism. Eventually your base is going to prefer politicians who literally know nothing about the political process.

[oberliner]

14. That's true

He does seem to be a darling of the crazy RW talk show hosts and the like. But I think he came across poorly in the debates and will not, in the end, be their candidate (though someone will incorporate many of his crazy ideas).

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. The GOP is fighting the last war.

They want their own 'Obama'. They think he was elected just because he was black.

[Cosmocat]

3. YEP

In their simple minded way ...

[pnwmom]

5. Exactly.

But they might succeed.

[Turbineguy]

11. Yup.

It's their way of claiming they are not racists.

[HughBeaumont]

6. The last thing we need in the White House is some whack-a-doo fundie.

But with most Republican candidates, I repeat myself.

The whack is strong in this one, though . . . Among his nuttier beliefs:

The Affordable Care Act is the worst thing to happen to the country since slavery.[8] Why? Because his misquote of Lenin says so.[9]

Carson, quoted literally, lumps homosexuals, NAMBLA members, and bestiality practitioners as being against his idea of marriage.[10]

Dependence on government programs for the poor creates dependence ... like the food stamps Carson admits his childhood family couldn't have done without.[11]

Abortion is a form of human sacrifice.[12]

Teaching about America's past mistakes, such as Japanese American internment, will make students "sign up for ISIS".[13]

He does not believe in separation of church and state and he engages in the usual sort of historical revisionism to justify his belief.[14]

Carson blames police shootings (particularly the events that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri[wp]) on feminism.[15][16][17]

He believes that religion is needed to interpret science because "maybe the science is just propaganda".[18][19]

Apparently, prison sex/rape between inmates is not about power/domination, but proves that being gay is a choice.[20]

Carson does not believe in Darwinian evolution, which he claims rests upon "incredible fairy tales." [21] He believes that no transitional species have ever been discovered, and considers the human brain (with its billions of neural connections) evidence for an Intelligent Designer.

America under Obama is like Nazi Germany because political correctness.[22]

Black Americans who vote Democrat don't think for themselves.[23]

As a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, it will be interesting to see whether he will follow its teaching of pacifism or ignore it in order to appeal more to Republican hawks.

Muslims should not be President because it is "against the Constitution". The irony that a black man is using the same logic as white supremacists talking about a black President was not lost on the media or black Twitter.[24]

[Gothmog]

8. Carson is even less qualified to be POTUS than Trump

The GOP base support of outsiders with no government background is fun to watch

[Vinca]

10. He's the biggest mystery of the whole race.

What's the appeal? I understand Trump, he's a celebrity. I understand Fiorina, she speaks well and is a woman. But Carson? He should sell videos of his appearances as a sleep aid. The man doesn't seem to have much of a knowledge about anything beyond his profession . . . and clearly hasn't read the Constitution. He's profoundly unqualified for the job unless it includes turning the Oval Office into a neurosurgery suite.

[wolfie001]

12. He isn't the first brilliant man who's entered a slow descent into insanity....

....and he won't be the last.

[hibbing]

16. "fellow political outsiders"

Hahaha, too funny.

Peace

[Sissyk]

17. Locking.

Analysis.