LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Many voters outside of Michigan have probably never heard of Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, In fact, Johnson even has a campaign video titled “Perry who?” But that didn’t stop him from getting a second place showing in a recent Turning Point Action Conferences straw poll taken by the Trafalgar Group. Perry, who spoke at the conference, appeared to help his odds just by showing up when others like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t.
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However, in his own state of Michigan, Perry got a big goose egg in a recent Mitchell Research & Communications poll. The July 11th through the 13th poll was commissioned by MIRS and was a statewide survey of registered general election voters conducted entirely by text messaging voter’s cell phones and sending them to a SurveyMonkey website to answer questions.
In the poll, voters were asked, “If the February 2024 Republican Presidential Primary were being held, would you be voting for or lean towards…” The poll listed the Republican presidential candidates in alphabetical order.
According to the poll results, former President Donald Trump received 69 percent of the vote, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis 13%, former Vice President Mike Pence 3 percent, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott 2 percent, former governor of South Carolina and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley 1 percent, “not sure yet” got a whopping 11 percent and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson received zero percent support.
In addition to scrambling to get votes, Johnson, as well as many other Republican presidential candidates, is scrambling to get on the Fox News debate stage in August by offering free copies of his book or even a $10 gas card for anyone willing to contribute a mere $1 to his campaign.
According the the Republican National Committee’s criteria to be on the stage, among other things, is that the candidates have to have at least 40,000 donors, including 200 from 20 different states. Desperate candidates like Johnson are giving away gift cards, commissions to refer donations to campaigns and have come up with other creative offerings in order to qualify for the debate. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump still hasn’t committed to showing up to the debate yet. The candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to meet the requirements to be on the stage. So far, seven candidates have qualified including Trump, DeSantis, Haley, Pence, Scott, Christie and Ramaswamy.
In addition to being a businessman, Perry is also known in Michigan for his failed attempt at running to be Michigan’s governor. Along with four other candidates, he was deemed ineligible for the primary ballot when it was discovered he didn’t have enough valid signatures after submitting too many fraudulent signatures collected by paid petition circulators.
After stating his intentions to run for president with a $192,000 Super Bowl ad at the beginning of the year, Johnson decided that one of his campaign platform would be the Two-Cents Plan, which is also the title of a book he wrote. The plan that will cut two cents off of every dollar in federal discretionary spending to end inflation and supposedly solve the debt crisis.
While Johnson expresses concern about federal spending, he appears to lack the same discipline when it comes to spending for his own presidential campaign. According to FEC (Federal Election Commission) filings, of the $8.8+ million of total receipts for his “Perry Johnson for President Inc.” committee, about $8.5 million of that is from loans from his own personal funds – loans that have no due dates or interest documented in the filings. Contributions other than loans for the election cycle are only reported to be about $395,00.
