Posts Tagged ‘Ron Paul’
What are the most libertarian states?
Jason Sorens over at the The Fund for American Studies blog has a series of interesting posts attempting to identify the most libertarian states. Using factors that include Ron Paul’s vote share, the number of Ron Paul donors per state, Libertarian Party vote in the 2008 presidential election, and other variables, he concludes:
The states with the most libertarians are Montana, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Idaho, with Nevada, Indiana, Georgia, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Utah, California, and Colorado following.
The flip side of tolerance
As I had noted before, TargetPoint and Politico had commissioned a poll of attendees to a DC Tea Party rally, including questions to separate libertarians from conservatives. Alex Lundry has been blogging new bits of analysis the last week. I found this observation particularly interesting:
However, while [Ron] Paul does not perform well among traditional values promoters, Palin does perform decently among the more libertarian group, indicating some potential crossover appeal between the two camps of the Tea Party. Beyond that, Gingrich and Romney perform adequately enough in both groups that they too have potential to be a bridge between the libertarian and socially conservative sects of the Tea Party.
So it seems libertarians can live with conservative politicians, while conservatives have a harder time living with libertarian politicians. Is this the flip side of the social tolerance that differentiates libertarians from conservatives? Perhaps. And I wonder if this helps explain why the historical alliance between libertarians and conservatives has often favored conservative politicians.
Libertarian sentiment has finally gone mainstream
Or so says Chris Stirewalt, political editor of the Washington Examiner:
Three years ago, the Republican establishment piled scorn on the presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. Today, he is in a statistical tie with President Obama in 2012 polling… Paul will not likely be the next president… But there’s no doubt that hating the government and the powerful interests that pull Washington’s strings has gone from the radical precincts of the Right and Left to the mainstream.
