# The Carson Caucus **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 28, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465 "2016-01-28T04:18:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Henga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Henga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henga)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465/1 "2016-01-28T04:18:01Z")
I am watching a re-run of the Tonite Show with Johnny Carson from just before the 1984 Iowa Caucus. He had his audience stand up and do something like rubbing their belly or patting their head to indicate whom they would vote for if the election were held tomorrow. Reagan won re-election by a landslide. So the Carson Caucus is likely one of the most accurate polls ever taken. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465/2 "2016-01-28T15:01:57Z")
So, if you’re for Trump, what body part do you rub? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465/3 "2016-01-28T15:04:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So, if you’re for Trump, what body part do you rub? I think it involves bending over and putting your head way up where the sun don’t shine. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465/4 "2016-01-28T15:17:38Z")
> [@Henga](#): > > I am watching a re-run of the Tonite Show with Johnny Carson from just before the 1984 Iowa Caucus. He had his audience stand up and do something like rubbing their belly or patting their head to indicate whom they would vote for if the election were held tomorrow. Reagan won re-election by a landslide. So the Carson Caucus is likely one of the most accurate polls ever taken. Your grammar is quite good (nice, proper use of “whom”) but you might want to brush up on your data collection and statistics. 1. You give no indication of what that 1984 straw poll produced in terms of data. 2. Even if that straw poll was dead on, one data point does not a “most accurate poll ever taken” make. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465/5 "2016-01-28T17:20:50Z")
> [@Henga](#): > > **The Carson Caucus** Click bait. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-carson-caucus/744465/6 "2016-01-28T17:46:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Your grammar is quite good (nice, proper use of “whom”) but you might want to brush up on your data collection and statistics. While ‘whom’ was used correctly, I believe the sentence is still off grammatically. It should’ve read “He had his audience stand up and do something like \*rub \* [not ‘rubbing’] their belly or _pat_ [not ‘patting’] their head to indicate _for whom they would vote_ [not ‘whom they would vote for’] if the election were held tomorrow.”