{"id":2648993,"date":"2026-08-24T15:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T19:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wj-straw-poll-thomas-massie-takes-the-lead-this-week-but-were-not-buying-it-2\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:02:25","slug":"wj-straw-poll-thomas-massie-takes-the-lead-this-week-but-were-not-buying-it-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wj-straw-poll-thomas-massie-takes-the-lead-this-week-but-were-not-buying-it-2\/","title":{"rendered":"WJ Straw Poll: Thomas Massie Takes the Lead This Week, But We&#8217;re Not Buying It"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwj-straw-poll-thomas-massie-takes-the-lead-this-week-but-were-not-buying-it-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2648993&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>the webpage features a &#8220;Read more&#8230;&#8221; button that reveals additional content when clicked. The new content includes an article discussing recent polling results for the 2028 GOP presidential race. It reports that Rep. Thomas Massie led a straw poll with 47.8% support, a importent spike from the previous week, which raises suspicion about vote manipulation by his supporters. Subsequent analysis suggests the support surge was likely influenced by deliberate efforts to inflate his numbers. The article also mentions other candidates&#8217; standings, such as Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Ron DeSantis, and Donald Trump, whose support levels declined compared to prior polls.Additionally, the piece includes social media comments related to the poll results and emphasizes that the poll is informal and intended for tracking conservative sentiment, not scientific accuracy. The page contains various scripts and advertisements, and also a call to participate in the ongoing straw poll.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rep. Thomas Massie surged into first place in last week\u2019s Western Journal presidential straw poll, but we\u2019re taking the results with an entire shaker of salt.<\/p>\n<p>Massie, who has polled in the single digits or low double digits since we began tracking sentiment about who will lead the GOP in 2028, received 47.8 percent of the vote for the week ending Aug. 23.<\/p>\n<p>That represented a jump of 35.1 percentage points from <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WesternJournalX\/status\/2089360504049246563?%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2089360504049246563%7Ctwgr%5E43a71195f1a94141e8e55b6cb37dea9e3cde0ff7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fwj-straw-poll-rubio-widens-lead-weeks-survey-can-hold%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the previous week\u2019s<\/a> 12.7 percent \u2014 or did it?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 The votes are counted \u2014 here\u2019s this week\u2019s GOP 2028 straw poll (Aug. 17-23):<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Massie \u2013 47.8%<br \/> Marco Rubio \u2013 25.7%<br \/> JD Vance \u2013 14%<br \/> Ron DeSantis \u2013 5.1%<br \/> Donald J. Trump \u2013 4.9%<br \/> Other \u2013 2.4%<\/p>\n<p>Submit a new vote each week at The Western Journal\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ki7pr0dk70\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ki7pr0dk70<\/a>\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aZLs4VklQ6\">pic.twitter.com\/aZLs4VklQ6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Western Journal (@WesternJournalX) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WesternJournalX\/status\/2091918734092796022?\">August 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wj-straw-poll-thomas-massie-takes-the-lead-this-week-but-were-not-buying-it\/\" title=\"WJ ...: Thomas ... Takes the Lead This Week, But We&#039;re Not Buying It\">apparent outlier poll prompted<\/a> a bit of an investigation, which led us to Massie\u2019s X account.<\/p>\n<p>It appears the results of the non-scientific, weekly poll were manipulated by supporters of the Kentucky Republican.<\/p>\n<p>Massie d our poll two days before the results were locked in.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">now I see why the President posted like an angry girlfriend last night\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FKh9VGuour\">https:\/\/t.co\/FKh9VGuour<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepThomasMassie\/status\/2091329825516458307?\">August 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Nearly 130,000 people saw the post, and some vowed to put their hands on the scale to put the outgoing congressman on top<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">It has you in 3rd right now. We gotta boost those numbers. Rubio is israel first and vance is india first. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/b1lKhi5O60\">pic.twitter.com\/b1lKhi5O60<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris (@greatironchris) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/greatironchris\/status\/2091341645144879151?\">August 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A distrustful Massie supporter by the name Joey appeared to believe that The Western Journal has the means and the desire to go after people in some manner for making the \u201cwrong\u201d selection:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If you don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be targeted for making the \u201cwrong selection\u201d then you don\u2019t understand why they want your .<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joey (@JoeyBlowey1) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoeyBlowey1\/status\/2091877465375527027?\">August 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Disclaimer: The Western Journal has no intent to \u201cget\u201d people who vote in our survey, and there is no wrong answer in a weekly straw poll intended to track who conservatives see as the GOP standard-bearer going forward. The straw poll is completely safe.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In any event, with an unlikely and massive jump in support, it appears as though Massie supporters were successful in manipulating the results of this week\u2019s straw poll.<\/p>\n<p>The poll otherwise found that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the previous week\u2019s poll, fell to second place with 25.7 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Vice President J.D. Vance also saw his support decline, finishing third with 14 percent. That was down 10.3 percentage points from the previous week\u2019s 24.3 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remained in fourth place at 5.1 percent, slipping 1.1 percentage points from his previous total of 6.2 percent.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump received 4.9 percent of the vote, down 3.1 percentage points from the 8 percent he received the previous week.<\/p>\n<p>All other candidates combined for 2.4 percent, down slightly from 2.7 percent the week before. Candidates receiving less than 2 percent are grouped into the \u201cOther\u201d category.<\/p>\n<p>Last week\u2019s poll and other recent surveys have all found Rubio in the driver\u2019s seat, with Vance not far behind.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Straw poll RESULTS are in for the week of Aug. 10-16 \u2014 here\u2019s how the GOP 2028 field stacks up:<\/p>\n<p>Marco Rubio \u2013 46.1%<br \/> JD Vance \u2013 24.3%<br \/> Thomas Massie \u2013 12.7%<br \/> Donald J. Trump \u2013 8%<br \/> Ron DeSantis \u2013 6.2%<br \/> Other \u2013 2.7%<\/p>\n<p>Submit a new vote each week at The Western Journal\u2019s\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zoZuys10G1\">pic.twitter.com\/zoZuys10G1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Western Journal (@WesternJournalX) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WesternJournalX\/status\/2089360504049246563?\">August 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to an internal analysis of this past week\u2019s results, had there not been a sudden spike in support for Massie, we strongly believe the results of this week\u2019s survey would have been:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rubio: 44 percent<\/li>\n<li>Vance: 23 percent<\/li>\n<li>Massie: 13-15 percent<\/li>\n<li>Trump: 8 percent<\/li>\n<li>DeSantis: 7 percent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can safely participate in this week\u2019s straw poll by <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.westernjournal.com\/strawpoll2028\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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Thomas Massie temporarily led last week\u2019s Western Journal GOP straw poll, but the results should be viewed skeptically. Historically polling in low double digits or single digits since tracking began, Massie garnered 47.8% this week-an unusually large jump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2648994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Thomas-Massie-straw-poll.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[84595,53568,33196,84596,83936],"class_list":["post-2648993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-lead-predictor","tag-political-poll","tag-thomas-massie","tag-weekly-insights","tag-wj-straw-poll"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Thomas-Massie-straw-poll.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2648993"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2648997,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648993\/revisions\/2648997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2648994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2648993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2648993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2648993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}