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Is Huckabee Right About Libido?

Is Huckabee Right About Libido?

Poll: ‘Uncle Sugar’ Lifts Huckabee To Top Of GOP 2016 Field

Poll: ‘Uncle Sugar’ Lifts Huckabee To Top Of GOP 2016 Field

Mike Huckabee’s instantly infamous remark that Democrats try to make women “believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government” drew instant condemnation and ridicule from Democrats and most members of the political media. But according to a new poll, “Uncle Sugar” was a smashing success among Huckabee’s target audience: right-wing Republicans.

A Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday finds that Huckabee has rocketed up in the polls in the wake of the controversy, and now finds himself leading the polls for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

According to the poll, 16 percent of Republican primary voters now favor Huckabee as their party’s 2016 nominee. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is in second at 14 percent, followed by New Jersey governor Chris Christie at 13 percent, Kentucky senator Rand Paul at 11 percent, and Texas senator Ted Cruz, Florida senator Marco Rubio, and Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan at 8 percent. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal bring up the rear at 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

Huckabee’s numbers are surging in the wake of the controversy that reinserted his name into the headlines; the failed 2008 presidential candidate has gained more than 3 points since last month. In addition to taking the overall lead, he is also now the leading candidate among self-described “very conservative” Republicans, with 20 percent support (Paul is in second among the group at 15 percent, followed by Cruz at 11 percent and Bush at 10 percent.)

Huckabee has a very positive image among Republican primary voters — 64 percent have a favorable opinion of the former Arkansas governor, while just 18 percent view him unfavorably, good for second place among those polled by PPP. Former Alaska governor and perennial non-candidate Sarah Palin ranks first in the category, with a favorability rating of 70 percent to 20 percent.

PPP’s poll should not be taken as evidence that Mike Huckabee could actually win the Republican nomination (after all, Barack Obama didn’t even register in the polls 33 months before the 2008 presidential election). But it does provide a snapshot of how the Republican base feels at this moment in time — and that snapshot suggests that Huckabee’s “Uncle Sugar” theory represents the GOP far better than party leadership would like voters to believe.

The full results of the PPP poll can be seen here.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Huckabee Corrected

Huckabee Corrected

Huckabee Won’t Back Down From ‘Uncle Sugar,’ Would Like Some Money, Please

Huckabee Won’t Back Down From ‘Uncle Sugar,’ Would Like Some Money, Please

A day after former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee sparked controversy with his bizarre remark that Democrats insult women “by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government,” the failed presidential candidate, now-talk radio host is refusing to back down.

In a grammatically challenged email to supporters that was also posted on his Facebook page, Huckabee pointedly declined to back away from “Uncle Sugar.”

“I am apparently the worst conservative ever or at least the most annoying one according to the left wingers in Washington today,” Huckabee wrote. “My remarks to the RNC today were immediately jumped on and blown sky high by hand-wringing, card carrying liberals from coast to coast, some of them in the media.”

“Guess what liberals? If you can’t stand to look at yourself in the mirror, then get ready for more of this talk, because conservatives are going to continue to fight back against your destructive policies towards women and families,” he continued.

The message then goes on to ask supporters to “do something urgent”:

“Please give an immediate donation to my political action committee Huck PAC in any amount you can afford,” Huckabee writes. He then goes on to ask for money three more times (the final paragraph of the letter reads simply, “Join me tonight with a donation”).

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus is one conservative who seems unlikely to write a check to Huck PAC. Although he has defended Huckabee’s right-wing views on social issues in the past, once insisting that he could be “a model for a lot of people in our party,” Priebus — who urged Republicans to soften their rhetoric and “be conscious of developing a forward-leaning vision for voting Republican that appeals to women” in his disastrously failed 2012 “autopsy” — declined to endorse Huckabee’s unique take on women’s libidos.

“I don’t know what he was talking about,” Priebus said on Friday. He added that Huckabee’s remarks were “sort of a goofy way of using some phrases,” and that he would have phrased it differently.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr