# Marco Rubio presidential campaign discussion thread. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 14, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685 "2015-04-14T21:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/121 "2015-11-10T17:49:16Z")
Rubio has gone into substantially positive territory on favorables: [http://pollingreport.com/r2.htm#Rubio](http://pollingreport.com/r2.htm#Rubio) He now stands at 39-25. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/122 "2015-11-10T18:21:04Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Rubio has gone into substantially positive territory on favorables: > > [Political Figures: R (2)](http://pollingreport.com/r2.htm#Rubio) > > He now stands at 39-25. The buzz seems to be that Trump and Carson are approaching the trainwreck stage, Bush is circling the drain and Cruz is offputtingly crazy to all but the extreme fringe, so Rubio (and, behind him, Christie) are the likely beneficiaries. I doubt Christie can make up the ground unless Rubio has a meltdown soon, so Marco may well go the distance. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/123 "2015-11-10T18:29:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Regardless of his hypocrisy, he is right. There should be performance goals, and those goals should be used to decide who gets the raises, who gets the promotions, and who gets kicked out of public service. > > If the military can be run as a meritocracy, so can the civilian workforce of the government. How often do people get fired from the military for not doing their jobs well? That isn’t a rhetorical question; I honestly don’t know the answer. But my impression is that even general discharges are usually for reasons related to conduct rather than job performance. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/124 "2015-11-10T18:30:12Z")
Cruz is actually now in positive territory as well. Trump and Bush are in extremely negative territory, Carson is the most popular candidate in the country. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/125 "2015-11-10T18:32:40Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > How often do people get fired from the military for not doing their jobs well? > > That isn’t a rhetorical question; I honestly don’t know the answer. But my impression is that even general discharges are usually for reasons related to conduct rather than job performance. Given the rather hefty levers superior officers and NCOs wield to get people to do their jobs, probably not many. PT, kitchen duty, collective punishment(which makes your better performing peers hate you), and demotions work pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/126 "2015-11-10T18:35:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Cruz is actually now in positive territory as well. Trump and Bush are in extremely negative territory, Carson is the most popular candidate in the country. Santorum was popular once. So was Cain. So was Gingrich. Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper, as the British say. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/127 "2015-11-10T18:39:27Z")
1. None of the people you cited have been as popular as Rubio and Carson are. More like where Cruz is now, and I agree that Cruz is probably headed back down. 2. Their popularity was very short lived. Santorum and Cain were in positive territory for less than 2 months. Gingrich was never actually popular. As a well known figure already, he had built in negatives that he never overcame. 3. You know who else was popular? Ronald Reagan, BIll Clinton, Barack Obama… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/128 "2015-11-10T18:44:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > 1. You know who else was popular? Ronald Reagan, BIll Clinton, Barack Obama… All of whom were/are great orators. Carson…is not. Not even remotely. I suspect that if he wins Iowa the amplified media scrutiny will not serve him well. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/129 "2015-11-10T18:48:24Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > 1. None of the people you cited have been as popular as Rubio and Carson are. You’ll need a cite for that. Rubio’s not that popular, for one thing – 39 is not great. Neither is Carson, for that matter – at various times in the past, both Obama and Hillary have been far, far more popular than both. Not that it really matters this early. > [@](#): > > 1. You know who else was popular? Ronald Reagan, BIll Clinton, Barack Obama… And Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Sarah Palin… ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/130 "2015-11-10T18:48:26Z")
Carson’s likeable. Oratory is not the key to likeability. It does help with messaging. Rubio is capable of being a great speaker and is also likeable and has a great biography. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/131 "2015-11-10T18:52:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Carson’s likeable. Oratory is not the key to likeability. It does help with messaging. Rubio is capable of being a great speaker and is also likeable and has a great biography. Yeah…remind me how his SOTU response went down again? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/132 "2015-11-10T18:53:27Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You’ll need a cite for that. Rubio’s not that popular, for one thing – 39 is not great. Neither is Carson, for that matter – at various times in the past, both Obama and Hillary have been far, far more popular than both. Not that it really matters this early. Rubio has a +14 spread though, which is pretty significant. [http://pollingreport.com/r2.htm#Rubio](http://pollingreport.com/r2.htm#Rubio) Cain peaked at +11, and it was very brief, since he was a dirtbag with women. I know people say Cain was a flash in the pan, but it’s not fair to compare any candidate to Cain since it’s quite possible Cain would have been Romney’s main competitor had he not been well, a dirtbag. [http://www.pollingreport.com/c.htm](http://www.pollingreport.com/c.htm) Santorum peaked at +3 and some pollsters didn’t ever find him in positive territory: [http://www.pollingreport.com/S-Z.htm#Santorum](http://www.pollingreport.com/S-Z.htm#Santorum) Rubio and Carson at +14 and +24 respectively are more popular and it won’t be long before we find out if they have more staying power. Carson already has more staying power, actually, being positive the entire time he’s been polled and only growing more popular. Rubio is new to positive territory but he’s seen pretty remarkable improvement in an environment where almost all candidates from both sides are in negative territory. As of right now, the only candidates viewed more positively than negatively are Rubio, Carson, Cruz, and Sanders. And Sanders’ rating is only about as good as Cruz’s. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/133 "2015-11-10T18:55:33Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > How can a guy who [hates the Senate so much he’s quit on it in his first term](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2015/10/25/28cfaff0-6d59-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_p1most) claim that as a qualification for the Presidency? I’m trying to remember - wasn’t there someone else who quit his Senate seat midway thru his first term? I thought that had something to do with a Presidental run as well. Of course, quitting is much better than not running for re-election, which is what Rubio is doing, so it probably doesn’t have much to do with the situation. And of course [missing 65% of your votes is nothing, while missing 25% is serious](http://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/senators-missing-votes/). ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/134 "2015-11-10T18:55:37Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Carson’s likeable. Oratory is not the key to likeability. It does help with messaging. Rubio is capable of being a great speaker and is also likeable and has a great biography. Rubio seems sane, (but way too conservative for my taste). Carson seems absolutely insane to me. I don’t like him, I don’t respect him, I don’t trust him. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/135 "2015-11-10T18:59:38Z")
The biggest problem for Rubio is comparisons to Obama. Democrats are pretty cynical to use such attacks against him since they didn’t think any of this stuff was a problem when their chosen one was running, but that doesn’t mean the attacks don’t have merit. Marco Rubio is not ready to be President and apparently he was only using the Senate as a springboard. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/136 "2015-11-10T19:12:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Rubio has a +14 spread though, which is pretty significant. Not this early. It’s mostly meaningless, especially when so many aren’t paying attention (and so many are “who?” for Rubio). > [@](#): > > Cain peaked at +11, and it was very brief, since he was a dirtbag with women. I know people say Cain was a flash in the pan, but it’s not fair to compare any candidate to Cain since it’s quite possible Cain would have been Romney’s main competitor had he not been well, a dirtbag. I don’t think this is “quite possible” at all – it was extremely unlikely, just like Bachmann and Gingrich’s brief lead meant nearly nothing. > [@](#): > > Rubio and Carson at +14 and +24 respectively are more popular and it won’t be long before we find out if they have more staying power. Carson already has more staying power, actually, being positive the entire time he’s been polled and only growing more popular. Rubio is new to positive territory but he’s seen pretty remarkable improvement in an environment where almost all candidates from both sides are in negative territory. Actually it will be a long time before we know if they have real staying power – remember the 538 webchat from this morning? Did you see Nate’s graph? A “long time” this early is pretty meaningless compared to a long time once the actual contests start. If Carson or Rubio are still \> +15 or so in the last few weeks before Iowa, it might just _start_ to mean something. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/137 "2015-11-10T19:14:08Z")
We’re getting close. I’m really starting to think that Rubio is going to be the next President though. I hope he knows what he’s getting into. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/138 "2015-11-10T19:19:18Z")
Is that going into your Predictions by Adaher list yet? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/139 "2015-11-10T19:20:07Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > We’re getting close. I’m really starting to think that Rubio is going to be the next President though. I hope he knows what he’s getting into. He might win the nomination. I can’t see how he beats Secretary Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685/140 "2015-11-10T19:20:40Z")
Nope, not yet. I am getting close to predicting that Clinton won’t be the next President, however. I just need Trump and Cruz to go away. I will predict though that Clinton will fall to Rubio if he’s the nominee. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marco-rubio-presidential-campaign-discussion-thread/717685.md?page=8)