Outside of MSNBC’s Algonquin Round Table, it isn’t easy to find strong supporters of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
Despite his high profile entry into the presidential race after resigning as America’s ambassador to China, Huntsman has been unable to catch fire. His RealClearPolitics polling average stands at 1.3 percent. Forget trailing frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, Huntsman is being doubled by Rick Santorum in the polls.
So, who exactly are the few supporting Huntsman’s candidacy? The Daily Caller randomly tracked down several Huntsman supporters on Facebook. While unscientific, their answers help provide a composite of what a Huntsman backer looks like.
Arizona businessman Hal Robb told TheDC that he supports Huntsman because “his reasonableness appeals to me.”
“Gov. Huntsman has been the only candidate thus far who has acknowledged that we are leaving to our children a less good country,” he said. “Any candidate that simply beats the tired old drum of we have the best health care, best economy etc., is a non-starter for me.”
Robb — who says he votes “Republican almost all the time” even though he admits to supporting President Obama in 2008, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords in 2010 and Republican Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl’s Democratic opponent Jim Pederson in 2006 — says he also values Huntsman’s international experience.
“[T]he most compelling reason I am currently a supporter of his is that he lived outside the United States,” Robb said. (RELATED: Huntsman releases new web video on job creation)
Indeed, Huntsman’s international credentials are something that appeal to several of his supporters who talked to TheDC.
“I am focused on Gov. Huntsman’s qualifications, particularly his understanding of Asian countries (and Mandarin fluency), and his record creating jobs as Governor of Utah,” said Stephen Dewey, a 26-year-old software engineer and publisher who graduated from Harvard in 2008.
“I hadn’t planned on supporting anybody this early in the primary,” Dewey said, “but I was encouraged by Gov. Huntsman’s intelligence and integrity during a recent interview on ABC’s This Week. I had forgotten what it was like to hear a politician say what they think without pandering.”
Isaac Hasson went to Huntsman’s announcement speech in Liberty Park, N.J. in June and was “so inspired that I ditched my preexisting summer plans to work for him in Florida.”
Hasson, who is currently a junior at Northwestern University, says he likes Huntsman’s willingness to take positions that are unorthodox within the Republican Party.
“As a rule, I prefer to get my science from NASA, not Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry,” Hasson said, suggesting that unlike Huntsman, some elements of the conservative base reject science. Huntsman recently echoed this sentiment, responding to comments by Rick Perry on global warming and evolution by tweeting: “To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me Crazy.”
“I am impressed by Jon Huntsman’s courageous stands on issues like civil unions and climate change, not only because I agree with them, but because he is willing to take them,” Hasson added. (Huntsman supports civil unions.)
David Litman is a 5th year international studies major at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he is president of the Oshkosh Model United Nations. He says he likes Huntsman’s moderate social positions as well, but is most attracted to his economic program.
“I am most attracted to his economic policy, and I absolutely love his jobs plan he presented just recently,” he said. “I am glad he holds a moderate position on social issues like climate change and gay marriage.”
Litman, like the other respondents, also likes Huntsman’s international experience.
“[A]s I am finishing my Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies, I am very pleased with his position on foreign policy issues and his pragmatic and sensible approaches on those issues.”
All of the respondents pointed to Huntsman’s economic record as appealing, which is one of Huntsman’s strengths. As governor, Utah led the nation in job creation.
But more than specific policies, respondents pointed to attributes less tangible. Some described a man they perceived as breaking the mold of the current Republican Party, which some of the respondents seem disaffected from.
“The Republican Party seemed to be dominated by ideologues more concerned with catering to fringe interests that seemed to be increasingly out of touch with reality,” said Hasson, referring to the Republican primary field before Huntsman jumped in.
“Some people think I have moved more to the left in politics,” said Robb. “I don’t think so. I think the Republican Party has in some cases left me.”
To those who responded to TheDC, Huntsman represents the reasonable outlier. And his “style of politics,” in the words of Litman, are viewed as “honest and straight.”
“He doesn’t play games to win political points, as seen by his acknowledgment that he believes in anthropogenic climate change and evolution is real,” said Litman. “It is that kind of straight and sensible discussion that we need to have instead of the political rhetoric that is spewed back and forth that accomplishes nothing and makes no one happy in the end.”
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