The Washington Post/Pew Research survey basically asked respondents to free associate on the GOP candidates for president. It asked people to respond with the first word that came to their mind when they heard the name of the candidate, a Freudian therapeutic technique now, apparently, adapted for political use.
Predictably, when people heard the name of Herman Cain, many (42) responded with "9-9-9." That was followed by "businessman" (30), "interesting" (23), "good" (22), and "pizza" (19)--in general, fairly positive in tone. Everybody loves pizza, right?
Responses to "Rick Perry" and "Mitt Romney" were less positive. "Texas" (55) was the top response for Perry, followed by "no" (16), "idiot" (15), "conservative" (12), "Governor of Texas" (12), and "dislike" (10).
Romney inspired people to think "Mormon" (60), "healthcare/Romneycare" (17), "flip-flop" (13), "good man" (13), "no/no way" (12), "possible" (12), and "religion" (11).
Just guessing, but I doubt Perry and Romney really want voters first impression of them to be, respectively, "Texas" and "Mormon."
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