Conservative Outpost Veepstakes Survey Results

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney Comes Out on Top

Posted by :Gary Gore August 25, 2008 - 3:54pm

The Conservative Outpost Republican Veepstakes Survey final numbers are in and have now been tallied. Based on the 1703 respondents who took part in our survey, out of the field of potential VP candidates presented, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney came out well on top.

For the question "Who is your first choice?", Governor Romney garnered 40% of the vote, coming in ahead of his closest challenger, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who took a respectable 28% of the vote on that question.

Romney also came in a close 2nd to former Congressman Newt Gingrich as to the question "Who is your second choice?" Gingrich took 22% to Romney's 19% of the vote on that question.

As for the "Least Favorite" selection, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani came out on top; or is that came out on bottom? Giuliani ended up with the highest negatives in that category - 31% of our conservatives polled selected Giuliani, while 18% selected Governor Mike Huckabee, as "Least Favorite".

For a complete look at the tabulations, see the numbers below:

Candidate	1st Choice		2nd Choice		Least Favorite
Jindal		6%		10%		4%
Crist		1%		5%		5%
Bush		2%		6%		11%
Sanford		1%		3%		4%
Huckabee		28%		17%		18%
Romney		40%		19%		11%
Gingrich		16%		22%		7%
Giuliani		3%		8%		31%
Pawlenty		3%		4%		3%
Tom Ridge		1%		6%		7%

As to the question regarding how important the selection of running mate is to impact your vote, it is apparent that the running mate choice is an important factor of the decision-making process for the conservative respondent. A full 38.75% said that the selection of running mate is "Very Likely" to impact their vote come this November.

On the surface, 38.75% may not seem like a lot when you think in terms of 49.75% of respondents indicated that VP choice is either going to make "No Difference" or "Not Likely" to make a difference on voting impact. But, in reality, with over half (50.25%) of the conservatives indicating running mate selection is either "Very Likely" to impact their vote or that they are "Not Sure" if it will make an impact at this point on their vote, support for the GOP nominee seems to indicate, at least, some degree of precariousness dependant on the selection of running mate added to the ticket.

See the numbers below:

VP Selections Impact on Your Vote
No Difference		29%
Not Likely		20.75%
Not Sure		11.50%
Very Likely		38.75%

The survey also gave us an opportunity to gauge what sort of ideological demographic we encountered with our respondents to the poll. We asked if respondents identified themselves as "Economic Conservatives", "Foreign Policy Conservatives", "Social/Religious Conservatives", "All of the Above", or "None of the Above". The indicated response from those polled is that the vast majority identify themselves as well-rounded conservatives by stating they were "All of the Above" Conservatives at a 64% rate.

Which type of conservative are you?
Economic Conservative	15%
Foreign Policy Conservative	2%
Social/Religious Conservative	17%
All of the above	64%
None of the above	3%