Kansas Republicans embrace Fiorina after debate, according to party survey

Kansas Republicans are embracing Carly Fiorina in the crowded GOP field for president, according to an informal survey the state party’s executive director conducted after the second GOP debate last week.

Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, was the favorite choice of 21.1 percent of respondents to a survey e-mailed to Kansas Republicans after the debate wrapped up last Wednesday evening.

Clay Barker said the survey got 970 responses over 48 hours. The next most popular candidate was neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 15.7 percent, followed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz with 15.6 percent.

Barker emphasized that the survey wasn’t scientific, “but the people that got it were our newsletter subscribers and I would guess that group is a little more likely to be our caucus voters.”

The party will hold its presidential caucus in March. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the only candidate to have registered for the caucus. He was the preferred candidate of 3.5 percent of the survey’s respondents.

Three out of the four top candidates have not held elected office. Donald Trump, who has led in most national polls, was the favorite of 13.5 percent of respondents.

Barker said this phenomenon “is a symptom of great frustration with Washington.”

He said Republican voters want “a competent outsider, someone who can shake it up, but who’s not just some crazy person screaming. They’ve got some substance behind them, whether it’s Trump’s real estate or Fiorina, a CEO.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was far and away the favorite candidate when the party conducted a straw poll of state committee members at its convention in February, winning 46 percent, but in Barker’s post-debate survey Walker netted only 2.9 percent.

Walker suspended his campaign on Monday following a steep drop in the national polls.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 6:32 AM with the headline "Kansas Republicans embrace Fiorina after debate, according to party survey."