Political Opinions that Make Sense

Can Perry Win?

| Monday, August 29, 2011

In a recent poll from Gallup, Rick Perry surges to the top of the of GOP presidential pack registering double-digit lead over his closest competitor, Mitt Romney. It comes at no surprise to me at all.

Perry’s got the record and the charisma that appeals to the broad Republican electorate from fiscal conservatives to social conservatives, from Tea Partiers to GOP insiders. The longest-serving governor of Texas, Rick Perry has also presided over a miraculous growth of jobs in his state accounted as the largest percentage of jobs created from any state in American since 2009. That’s a good record that can resonate with the general electorare who are looking for strong leadership that produces concrete results on the economic front.

Some even liken him to Ronald Reagan who was a successful governor of California before being elected as the 44th POTUS. Like Reagan, Perry casts government as the "problem".

But, despite all of his strengths, one questions still lingers on people’s mind: “Can Perry Win the GOP nomination and the general election later on?”.

Well, by looking at his strengths and his weaknesses, I can say that he can win the first but I doubt his chances on the second. Many of his strengths in the GOP constituency will be seen as weakness by the general election voters.

To further elaborate, take a look at his strengths like the following:

1. He is an unabashed “evangelical” politician.
He is a regular attendee of church. He drew both flak and praise for his official proclamation calling all Texans to pray for rain. Recently, he spearheaded a public prayer event to pray for Texas, the nation and the whole world. Plus, there were many other instances in which he publicly displayed his religion.

As governor, Perry espouses the pro-life, pro-traditional marriage and pro-gun platform of the religious right.

2. He is a champion of states' rights.
He opposes any Federal intervention in areas which suppose to be handled by states. He rejected the 2009 stimulus money for his state, promises to repeal the health care law instituted by Obama and suggested the idea of another Texas secession among other things.

3. He is friendly to corporations.
He cut taxes and putting up deregulations that made Texas a haven for businesses. He also led the charge for instituting tort reform.

4. He doesn’t believe in global warming.
Rick Perry’s stand on global warming is shared by the majority of Republicans - “global warming is phony science”.
Add to that, he want to dismantle agencies like EPA that put environmental regulations that burden business.

By examining his above-mentioned strengths, Rick Perry really looks formidable in the GOP primaries. However, many of those can scare away independents and unite Democrats in the general election. Even a maverick Republican presidential candidate like Ron Paul who is considered to be a “fringe” politician said of Perry, 
“He makes me look like a moderate”.

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