I think that a lot of pundits aren’t taking this latest Gallup Poll seriously, which finds that 19% of Republicans and 32% of Independents are “less likely to support” Rick Perry after learning about his characterization of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. They argue that since 19% of Republicans are “more likely to support” him at the same time, then that must mean both sides cancel each other out for no net loss or gain.

Simply put, they are wrong. If a single remark loses a candidate nearly one-fifth of voter support in less than a weeks’ time, that’s not a good sign. It doesn’t matter that the same amount of voters now are more likely to support him for president, he still lost support. The voters who are more likely to support him now were probably likely to support him to begin with, so it wouldn’t be accurate to say that he gained any support from his comments on Social Security either.