Many high-profile Republicans have been clamoring for another right-wing option that is more neo-conservative than Donald Trump, but voters don’t seem to care as much as the consultant and pundit class.
Ex-CIA operative Evan McMullin announced his presidential bid on August 8. He’s running as an independent candidate, and would be a conservative alternative for GOP voters.
However, Public Policy Polling announced that the #NeverTrump faction of the GOP isn’t quite as big as most TV pundits claimed.
The preliminary results for third-party candidates from a statewide poll in Texas were released on Tuesday and McMullin failed to get even one percent, in a state that Trump lost during the primary season.
We included Evan McMullin on our Texas poll and he got 0
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) August 15, 2016
While they didn’t release the exact polling size, it’s safe to say it was several hundred people and McMullin earned just three votes.
He got 3 and it rounded down to zero https://t.co/GrksaKCcKw
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) August 15, 2016
Adding insult to injury was that Harambe, the gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo that was killed earlier this year, earned far more support. The deceased primate earned two percent of the vote and Deez Nuts, a fictional candidate, earned three percent.
Gary Johnson 6, Deez Nuts 3, Harambe 2, Jill Stein 2, Evan McMullin 0 https://t.co/GmdGjpe1i6
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) August 15, 2016
When the #NeverTrump movement fails to garner even a single percent in a state like Texas it shows there’s no groundswell of support from Republicans and conservatives for a new neo-con candidate.
Donald Trump is a movement, Bernie Sanders was a movement, #NeverTrump is a bunch of consultants with good PR.
