Ben Carson may have identified a secret plan for success in the 2016 Republican presidential election: going on vacation.
Carson returned Wednesday from an 11-day hiatus from campaign events. According to his business manager Armstrong Williams, Carson and his wife, Candy, went on extended vacation from Aug. 29 until Labor Day to “recharge” his batteries before the next stage of the campaign.
Since Carson finished up his final pre-vacation campaign event on Aug. 28 in Colorado, he has been, along with Donald Trump, in the top two of every poll released both nationally and in Iowa.
In the two national polls conducted since Carson left for vacation, he sits at 18 (Monmouth) and 15 (PPP) percent support, respectively. Prior to that, Carson peaked at 12 percent twice, both of which occurred between the first GOP debate on Aug. 6 and the beginning of his vacation.
Meanwhile, Carson’s numbers in Iowa have skyrocketed during the same time. Since his vacation jaunt, Carson has sat between 16-23 percent support in all five polls that have released, three of which were conducted during his time away. The former neurosurgeon had previously sat in the high single-digits before hitting his high-water mark of 14 percent soon after the first GOP debate.
The bump even extends to New Hampshire, where Carson has finally broken into double digits — something he hadn’t achieved in the Granite State since he announced his campaign. According to the latest NBC/Marist poll released Sunday, Carson sits at 11 percent, which only sits behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich (12 percent) and Trump, who leads with 28 percent support.
While the polling speaks for itself, Carson’s campaign believes his uptick in support began initially with debate his performance on August 6 in Cleveland, Ohio.
“If we believe that 24 million people were watching that debate, 12 million of those people were introduced to Dr. Ben Carson for the first time,” said Deana Bass, Carson’s press secretary. “When people hear him, they see him, they recognize he’s not the same old answers that we’ve been getting in Washington. He’s a breath of fresh air, and that really resonated with people.”
“The more people have a chance to see him or are introduced to him, we feel like we’ll continue to do well,” Bass said, pointing also to Carson’s $6 million haul in August, which included 275,000 unique donations.
“We are humbled where we are right now,” Bass added, “but we are really excited.”
During the 2016 campaign cycle, Carly Fiorina has gotten a polling bump from a solid debate performance. Trump got a lasting one from his presidential announcement speech. Jeb Bush is hoping for one from his appearance on Stephen Colbert’s show.
Only Carson may have gotten a vacation bump.
Carson continued his tour of California Wednesday with a campaign rally in Anaheim, and will make stops in Texas, Missouri, and South Carolina to round out the week.
