convention dispatch

50 Person Poll: RNC Delegate Edition

Man wearing hat. Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of delegates have assembled in Tampa this week to nominate Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, vote on the party rules, and wear ridiculous hats in a socially acceptable setting. But what do they think about, you know, certain things — such as where President Obama was born, and whether he has committed impeachable offenses? In an effort to find out, Daily Intel presented 50 of these delegates with a multiple-choice poll. (The goal was 100, but many delegates did not want to pause from their busy schedules to share their opinions.)

In case it’s not obvious, this is not a completely representative polling sample. That said, there are some interesting nuggets in here. 

One of the delegates we talked to was indignant that the media keeps “harping” on the birther issue. Perhaps if more than a bare majority of the delegates at the Republic National Convention felt confident that the president was born in the United States, the media would stop writing about birtherism. 

Delegates were also asked where Mitt Romney was born. Turns out that most of them knew, although perhaps there would have been fewer correct answers before Romney made his “no one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate” joke in Michigan a few days ago, which garnered significant news coverage. Still, 3 out of 50 thought Romney was born in Mexico. They were likely confusing Mitt with his dad, George. 

In addition to Yes and No, there was space for survey respondents to explain their answers. Here’s what they said:

  • Bombing Libya w/o Congressional approval
  • Don’t know yet
  • His many executive orders w/o going through Congress
  • I’d like to think so but unsure
  • Taking executive privilege on Fast and Furious
  • Fast and Furious
  • Not sure
  • Signing of NDAA (which Romney also supports) is against Constitutional principles
  • Treason

Wish the “treason” guy was more specific. 

Mea culpa: This question did not include economic threats as choices. So if a delegate protested that the options available weren’t sufficient, they were invited to write in their own. Here’s what they wrote:

  • Economic collapse 
  • Fiscal and moral decline
  • Natl debt and growing federal govt
  • Current moral decline
  • Debt
  • Economic collapse

According to this very unscientific poll, 2016 would be a three-way race between Christie, Rubio, and Ryan, but no one candidate has a dominant position yet. (FYI: These polls were taken before Paul Ryan and Chris Christie gave major speeches at the RNC.) As for the “other” answers, they were:

  • Allen West
  • Ron Paul
  • Michele Bachmann
  • Mitt Romney

There was an error in the “impeachable offense” chart that has been fixed.