Republicans are far less enthusiastic about voting this year than are Democrats (ed. No shit!):
Sixty-three percent of Democrats questioned say they are either extremely or very enthusiastic about voting this year. Only 37 percent of Republicans feel the same way, and 36 percent of Republicans say they are not enthusiastic about voting.
“Republicans are far less enthusiastic about voting than Democrats are, and enthusiasm has plummeted among GOPers since the start of the year,” said Keating Holland, CNN polling director. “There was already an ‘enthusiasm gap’ in January, when Democrats were 11 points higher than GOPers on this measure. Now, that gap has grown to 26 points.”
“Bottom line: After eight years of the Bush presidency, Republicans are demoralized,” said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst.
I can’t blame them. Their party just sucks. What’s to be enthusiastic about on the GOP side? I did find this statistic odd, however:
Another question hovering over this year’s campaign: Race. Forty-two percent say Obama’s race will make it more difficult for him to get elected, with 57 percent disagreeing.
“That concern is higher among Democrats, at 48 percent, than Republicans, at 36 percent,” Schneider said.
Does this mean Democrats think that their fellow Democrats are racist? Or does it mean that Republicans think Democrats are not racist? Or does it mean something altogether different?
Tony
It isn’t just Democrats that are going to vote for Barack, you know… Your response seems to imply that the general election is come closed primary where only Democrats vote or something.
I think it’s higher among Democrats because we’re more likely to know the realities of racial politics instead of living in a polyanna fantasy world.
cleek
WV and KY (among others) proved that weeks ago. and TN re-confirmed it.
Remfin
If you’re crazy enough to believe that Obama is a far-left socalist looking to corrupt our precious bodily fluids with national healthcare and forced gay marriage, AND you believe everyone else can see this as clearly as you, then it really wouldn’t matter that he’s black, his candidacy is doomed anyway!
SamFromUtah
Does this mean Democrats think that their fellow Democrats are racist? Or does it mean that Republicans think Democrats are not racist? Or does it mean something altogether different?
I think it means Republicans won’t own up to being racist.
Blue Raven
But Republicans aren’t racist. They hate everybody below their income demographic equally, and anyone whose skin is darker than theirs can’t possibly be on their economic level. See? It’s just classism; nothing to worry about at all.
Notorious P.A.T.
Racists usually won’t.
Incertus
I think it’s a case of “I’m not a racist, but a lot of those other fuckers out there are” more than anything else. Pessimism about one’s fellow, that sort of thing.
Dennis - SGMM
b-psycho
It means the Democrats can see what the Republicans don’t want to admit.
That’s why, in one respect, I think the abnormally long primary season was a good thing. The only difference between racist Dems & racist Republicans is that the racist Dems didn’t get the memo about disguising it, which is why they were marginalized faster. As this year goes on, the pressure on the GOP & its loyal parrots to temper their bigotry is going to reach a boiling point, causing a very public explosion of hate that’ll have even the most detached people SHOCKED at just how deep and wide the rot is.
Stevenovitch
Actually it means that a lot of closet bigots like to use “other people” who “aren’t as tolerant as them” as an excuse to behave in a racist manner without admitting to such.
mikesdak
Democrats are justifiably more concerned about racism in this particular election because their candidate is the one it adversely affects. If the Repubican candidate were black and the Democrat white the numbers would be quite different.
georgia pig
Josh Marshall made a good point today that McCain essentially won the Republican nomination by default because he was running against a collection of nutjobs, and that this illustrates just how weak a candidate he really is in contrast to Obama, who beat a solid, well-known and well-financed opponent. If there ever was a good year to finally elect someone who isn’t an old white guy, this is it. That is why Clinton’s “electability” and “experience” arguments didn’t make a lot of sense, because either Obama or Clinton could beat McCain under these circumstances, even if Obama might have more of a challenge. The real question was who stood the chance of being the more effective change agent, because this is intrinsically a change election.
Dennis - SGMM
If the Republican candidate was black you’d be able to ice skate from one end of Hell to the other.
Jake
Cole, I assume you’ve seen this? She says she’s on all the blogs, and all the Clinton supporters, male and female, feel the same way.
Incredible. A delegate to the national convention is openly stating she plans to vote for McCain in the fall. Not the brightest bulb, I’d hazard to guess.
Just Some Fuckhead
Republicans have gotten closest so far with the melungeon Harding.
Splitting Image
“Does this mean Democrats think that their fellow Democrats are racist? Or does it mean that Republicans think Democrats are not racist? Or does it mean something altogether different?”
Mostly it means that Democrats and Republicans have different impressions of John Sidney McCain III.
One of the things that struck me about the Clinton vs. Obama arguments in the primaries was the number of people who believed that McCain was a singularly strong opponent and the Democrats had to nominate the best of the best in order to have a chance of beating him.
I had been following the Republican primary equally fervently and (though I used to be a fan of McCain’s) had realized that wasn’t true. The Republican Attack Machine may be as strong as ever, but it needs a capable front man to make it work. McCain isn’t one.
Worse still, the Democrats have been using the last few years to undercut what claims to legitimacy the Republicans used to have. Despite the traditional images the two parties have had as the Big Guys versus the Little Guys, the Republicans have actually drawn on a large base of small donors for years while the Democrats relied on big contributions from wealthy liberals. That played into the Republican way of looking at things. Obama’s donor base totally destroys that. Now it’s McCain who is the out of touch big-money liberal. Bush and his crew have frittered away most of the Republicans’ other strengths with the Iraq war, the failed hunt for bin Laden, and their budget deficits.
There are still Democrats out there who think that McCain is uniquely qualified to pull the Republicans out of this mess and generate a win in November unless Obama runs an absolutely flawless campaign. These people still hyperventilate whenever Obama makes even a small goof.
Most Republicans, on the other hand, are cringing whenever McCain talks about war or the economy and shudder at the thought of the upcoming Presidential debates.
Ed in NJ
Exactly. All this poll suggests is that the Democrats are more in tune to the way the Republicans will conduct themselves, with the help of Faux News and the like. It’s just a reflection of being realistic that some of the racist b.s. will stick due to the % of the electorate that is uncomfortable with the “exotic” candidate.
Dennis - SGMM
From the linked article.
I didn’t know that Joe Lieberman had a sister. She should be stripped of her credentials.
dr. bloor
She’s not going to have nearly as bad a time at the convention as is the person who put her on the slate in the first place.
LanceThruster
I think it means that they’re more worried about closet racists.
NR
What I want to know is how someone from the Hillis44/No Quarter/Riverdaughter crowd got to be a national convention delegate in the first place. Do we not have some sort of process in place to screen out the crazies?
Jon H
I think it’s simply reflective of Democrats’ fear that Obama won’t be elected (because of his race) and Republicans’ fear that he *will* be elected (in spite of his race).’
Manish
Does this mean Democrats think that their fellow Democrats are racist?
No. It means that Democrats are more worried that Obama will lose due to racism than the Republicans are. Or it could mean that Republicans think that race will cost Obama some white votes, but that will be mitigated by higher African-American turnout.
Jake
I hate to admit it, but I feel like the GOP has their shit together much better than the Dems when it comes to this kind of nonsense. They have their share of crazies, but at least they’re all loyal to the party.
Tom Hilton
On the plus side, they can use a Slickee Boys tune for their theme song.
This party sucks
It really sucks
Leave me alone
I’m going home
This party sucks
Jess
While we’re on the topic of failures in race relations…
Tom Hilton
She’s full of shit. Or rather, what she sees on the blogs, if that’s really what she sees, doesn’t reflect the real world.
Tom Hilton
Ohferchrissake…I made the mistake of reading more of that article:
‘Disenfranchised’ and your candidate losing are not the same thing…dumbass.
WereBear
Considering the Democrats ran rich white men the last TWO times, I’m up for a game changer.
QuickRob
That’s easy. It means that Republican voters are not as racist as Democratic voters think they are, in a weird sort of elitist way, if you will…
The Moar You Know
Oh, that is so unacceptable. A Hillbot (Debra Bartoshevich) who is a pledged delegate (Democratic Party of Wisconsin) has publicly stated she’ll be voting for McCain?
I’ve emailed the Democratic Party of Wisconsin asking that she be stripped of her credentials. Republicans wouldn’t put up with this shit and I don’t see why we should either.
NR
Well, in 2004, we had Zell Miller publicly supporting Bush, so these things do happen.
I guess I’m just glad that the nutcase isn’t a U.S. Senator this time.
Jess
Don’t you think that just rewarding her by playing into her fantasies of heroic martyrdom? I would argue that it’s better to treat her like the irrelevant twit she is and just ignore her. Let her heroic stand go entirely unnoticed by anyone of importance. I’ve posted a link to this before–I think we’re going to see a lot this sort of behavior as long as there’s an audience for it.
Damned at Random
Can anybody come up with a running mate for McCain that would make you reconsider voting Repub? The best I could come up with is Gov Lingel of Hawaii, and maybe Senator Lugar. I can think of at least a dozen good running mates for Obama.
The problewm isn’t just McCain, they have no depth.
chopper
obama definitely has some good experience running a winning campaign. mccain’s only experience at running a presidential campaign ended in a humiliating loss.
chopper
hey, this is great. now even the nuttiest of dems can be represented at the convention. just keep it to one delegate and we’ll be golden.
The Moar You Know
And how’s that been working out for us since 1980? Not so fucking well.
jrg
That’s what happens when your incumbent has the credibility of a drunken circus midget (he’s a man of peace now, BTW. Move over, Ghandi, or he’ll bomb your house and kill your kids).
It probably does not help that when people say “John McCain is an inspiration to us all”, they’re talking about how old the motherfucker is.
“John McCain… It’s time for your change.”
John S.
Fixed that for you, Brian.
Jess
What do you mean? She IS irrelevant in the greater scheme of things, UNLESS she becomes a poster child for those eeevul Obama supporters oppressing those who oppose them. Don’t give her the ammunition. She can vote for whomever she likes–it’s one vote, big deal.
NR
The problem with letting her go to the convention is that the media will give her more airtime than all the other delegates combined. The message will be “If the delegates at Obama’s own convention won’t vote for him, why should you?”
If her credentials can be stripped, they should be, and she should be replaced.
Dennis - SGMM
Publicly stating that she will vote for the Republican in a crucial election means to me that she’s no longer a Democrat. That seems like a fairly low threshold. That she wants to be An Important Person while selling out only reinforces the perception that she has no business in this party.
andy
Speaking of enthusiasm.
(Heard this on the local news the other day and meant to share. Apologies if I am repeating something already posted elsewhere)
jrg
Oh, so you’re against women’s suffrage?
Jess
That’s true. I guess the question is, which is likely to give her the most attention? Also, aren’t there always people who don’t vote for the nominee at the convention? The nominee wins with the right percentage of the votes, not every last one. And we have no idea who votes for whom in the general election unless they tell us. I just think that while it’s certainly justified to kick her out of the game, it might be a better strategy to shrug it off as the tantrum of a petty child rather than validating it as a threat.
Delia
I nominate Zell Miller as McMaverick’s VP. Would it make me consider voting for a gooper? Not in the hundred or so years he plans on staying in Iraq. But it should liven things up the next time they stand in front of a green screen.
NR
We’re not talking about who she votes for at the convention. We’re talking about the fact that she’s said she’s going to vote for McCain in November. I don’t care if Hillary’s delegates vote for her at the convention, but for them to turn around and support McCain in the GE is not acceptable.
That said, the best thing that could happen would be for Hillary to try to talk her out of it.
Splitting Image
“I think it’s simply reflective of Democrats’ fear that Obama won’t be elected (because of his race) and Republicans’ fear that he will be elected (in spite of his race).’”
This is what I was trying to get at, only expressed much better and in far fewer words. Thanks.
Jess
So…loyalty oaths?
People are free to vote for whomever they want in the general, whether we think it’s acceptable or not. I’m sure this won’t be the first time a Dem delegate has crossed the aisle, just the first public announcement of it (that we know of). Personally, I want to smack some sense into her vacant head, but my point is, what makes the Dems look better–shrugging off her petulance as a matter of little concern, or punishing her for not falling into line? Which do you think is better for party unity?
NR
Show me where I ever said otherwise.
What makes the Dems look good is not having a Democratic national convention delegate plastered all over the media trashing the Democratic nominee and saying she’s going to vote for McCain. In fact, I rather think that makes the Dems look bad.
RickMassimo
It means that Democrats said “Obama’s going to lose votes because a lot of Republicans are racists.” And Republicans said “Oh, no, his race won’t hurt him at all. I’m voting against him because he’s a Muslim and a terraist-lover and an America-hater who does terraist fist-jabs and whose alliances won’t be to America first and whose former pastor wants to destroy us all. But none of that has anything to do with his race, nosirree.”
Koz
Frankly, I’m not very excited about McCain, and I think Barack Obama is a real mensch (not having anything to do with Jews, but it’s the word that fit).
Nonetheless, I expect McCain to win the Presidency in the fall, and unless things change I intend to vote for him. There’s a huge disconnect between the fact that we have real problems in this country right now and the institutional Democratic party has no ideas except for perk-guarding and logrolling. When people figure out that the American economy will be Mexico in 18 months if D’s control the whole gov’t, then Magical Unity Pony act will get old in a hurry.
cleek
i’m just worried about Obama’s plan to force everyone to get a socialized gay abortion on the steps of his old madrassa.
Laertes
That’s a bit worrisome, I guess, but on the bright side we’ll no longer have to warble through the un-singable “Star Spangled Banner” once “Fight the Power” becomes the new national anthem.
b-psycho
It’s headed that way already, and for reasons neither party has the brains or balls to acknowledge.