Quarter 2 fundraising reports showed that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton cleaned house against the Republicans. The Democrats fundraising success was in large part due to the proliferation of the Internet that has made it easy for small donors to donate.
The top tier Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney received very significant portions of their money from large donors. John McCain and Ron Paul relied on small donors. Ron Paul is estimated to have received 14% of all small donor donations to a Republican candidate.
If one were to consider a donation as a vote, then Ron Paul would have received 14% in this unscientific poll. This falls in line with a few of the latest live event straw polls. At the Cobb County Straw Poll in Atlanta, Georgia, Ron Paul placed 2nd with 17% of the vote. At the California Republican Assembly Straw Poll, Ron Paul garnered 12% of the vote.
The scientific national and state polls archived at USAElectionPolls.com shows Ron Paul is roughly around 2-3% in any of the polls. The web site warns us of the unscientific nature of straw poplls because they point out that Rudy Giuliani was in sixth place at the Cobb County Straw Poll with only 10% but is in first or second place in most national and state polls.
But they do point out that something can be said for Ron Paul to consistently hover around the low teens in these straw polls. The consistency of Ron Paul's performances across two separate state straw polls and the recent Q2 fundraising poll shows that:
To see the calculations made that got Ron Paul 14%, visit Ron Paul's Q2 Fundraising Poll.
