Maybe honesty counts for something in presidential races after all. Carly Fiorina’s support has collapsed after a debate in which she touted videos attacking Planned Parenthood that turned out to be fake. In a new CNN/ORC poll, Fiorina fell from 15% to just 4%, according to CNN, which reports that
“Fiorina’s decline comes across the demographic and political spectrum, with her support now topping out at 8% among those with college degrees. Last month, she stood at 22% among the same group. Fiorina has dropped 11 points among women and 12 points among men, fallen 18 points among independents, 17 points among those age 50 or older, and 15 points among conservatives.” The survey was conducted nationally on Oct. 14-17.
Photo: Is Fiorina toast? Read the story here. (An NBC poll released Monday showed similar results.) It’s probably too soon to say whether she’ll be forced to drop out of the race, but with polling like this, it’s hard to see how she’ll attract money or endorsements. Being fooled by the fake videos makes her look like a gullible amateur. If she were president, the Chinese and Russians would have a field day with her. Voters seem to have figured this out.
Update: The Atlantic analyzes Fiorina’s fade here. Their take is different than mine: She’s not as good at getting press attention through outlandish stunts as Trump and Carson are. And they question whether she really had a base of support to begin with.