Mitt Romney Voted Against Himself For 2012 In Family Poll

Before he even ran for president in the 2012 election, Mitt Romney voted against yet another campaign in a poll conducted by his family.

It has been an oft-cited rumor that Romney wasn’t even really all that interested in being president despite spending millions on campaigning and surprisingly beating the incumbent President Obama in the first of the presidential debates.

That rumor is apparently true, according to a new book by The Washington Post‘s Dan Balz. Over Christmas break in 2010, the Romney family took a household poll on whether or not he should run for president again. Out of 12 family members, 10 said that he shouldn’t embark on another presidential campaign. One of those 10 votes against Mitt Romney was from … Mitt Romney.

The book is Collision 2012, and details some of the doubts Romney had before ultimately going ahead with his second unsuccessful bid for the highest office in the country.

Per Balz:

Mitt Romney had other reasons to think that not running might be the wiser choice. Winning as a moderate from Massachusetts who happened to be Mormon was always going to be difficult. ‘A lot of the thinking on the part of my brothers and dad was, ‘I’m not sure I can win a primary given those dynamics.'” Tagg Romney said. The prospective candidate also knew the sheer physical and family toll another campaign would take. “He’s a private person and, push comes to shove, he wants to spend time with his family and enjoy his time with them,” his son said. “Even up until the day before he made the announcement, he was looking for excuses to get out of it. If there had been someone who he thought would have made a better president than he, he would gladly have stepped aside.”

But in an interview with Balz included in the book, Romney said that he ultimately decided to run because he didn’t think any of the other GOP candidates were strong enough to take on President Obama.

“I didn’t think that any one of them had a good chance of defeating the president,” he said, “and in some cases I thought that they lacked the experience and perspective necessary to do what was essential to get the country on track.”

Balz’s book will go on sale on Aug. 6, 2013 (pre-order here) or check out more details on the book from The Huffington Post here.

What do you think of Mitt Romney voting against himself?

[Image via: Maria Dryfhout / Shutterstock]