David Plouffe had some words of wisdom to impart on Washington Wednesday: Don’t sleep on Ben Carson in the 2016 race.
During an appearance on “Morning Joe,” Plouffe, who served as President Obama’s campaign manager in 2008, argued that Carson should indeed be taken seriously, saying that he is going to be a “force” throughout the race after surging to the top of the primary polls in the past few weeks.
“I find it interesting Carson is getting dismissed,” Plouffe said. “[H]ere’s someone who’s leading in all the polls, is building a huge following, has a lot of social media skill, apparently a lot of grassroots support that should materialize.”
“I think sort of in the Acela corridor, there’s a dismissive approach to Carson and [Donald] Trump, but they’re both sitting there, if you combine them, over 50 percent in most national polls, they’re the strongest leaders in most early states,” Plouffe said.
“He’s very strong, and I don’t think his support is going to drop from 30 [percent] to 10 [percent] overnight,” Plouffe said. “I think he’s going to be a force throughout this.”
On Wednesday, Carson finally overtook Trump for the top spot in the RealClearPolitics national average with 25 percent to Trump’s 24 percent. This is the first time Trump has not been in the lead since July.
