Rob Horowitz: Perry Hurt By Debate Performances

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Rob Horowitz, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

Governor Rick Perry’s (R-TX) uneven performances in three recent Republican Presidential debates have stalled his quick rise in the polls and are raising doubts among Republicans about whether he is the best candidate to take on President Obama in 2012.

The evidence that his debate performances is damaging him with REAL voters-- not just the Washington media echo chamber-- came through in this past weekend’s Florida straw poll results with Perry finishing a distant second to Herman Cain in a contest that Perry devoted serious resources to and was heavily favored to win. In follow-up interviews, straw poll participants cited Perry's lackluster debate performances as their reason for ditching him.
While debates usually reinforce viewers’ existing opinions of the candidates, rather than change opinions, Perry’s high profile and well-covered shaky moments in these debates have created a negative first impression of him with a national audience that is just learning about him. This has resulted in a larger than usual peeling off of support as his weak performances have dominated the media narrative for the last couple of weeks.

The Republican punditocracy nearly universally panned Perry. In the neoconservative magazine "Weekly Standard", William Kristol called Perry’s performance in last week’s debate, " close to a disqualifying two hours." Kristol's fellow panelists on Fox News Sunday joined him in giving Perry a thumbs down. Britt Hume was the most colorful, remarking that Perry “threw up all over himself.” Bush and McCain media consultant Mark Mckinnon used his column in “The Daily Beast” to urge Perry to spend much more time preparing for future debates.

Plenty Of Ammunition

Perry has given his critics plenty of ammunition. While his stage presence and body language are excellent, he comes across as unprepared to answer attacks on Social Security and other easily anticipated questions. Further, Perry’s efforts to go after Romney on his Massachusetts health care initiative or his history of flip-flopping—both belt-high fastballs ---have fallen flat due to an inability to clearly deliver his lines. When thinking on his feet is required, he too often seems lost.

Perry is also damaged by his support for a Texas version of the Dream Act, which provides in-state college tuition and scholarship assistance to children of illegal immigrants who have lived in the state for more than three years. While this position will serve Perry well in a general election, it is harming him with his natural base -- hardline, conservative primary voters. Perry compounded the problem in the last debate by saying that people who didn’t support his position, didn’t have a heart.

Perry still brings a number of strengths to the campaign, thus it is way too early to write him off. But he must improve his performances in future debates. The good news for him is the bar is now set really low.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.

 

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