(from Pew)
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The Big Picture: Republicans Like McCain
04 Feb 2008 12:09 pm
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» Republican voters like McCain from MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Conservative media and blogs may not think conservative and/or Republican voters like McCain, but that’s because they never step outside the echo chambers that tell them McCain is a “liberal just like Hillary.” Or maybe they’re... [Read More]
Comments (28)
Can I just ask who the 7% are that voted for McCain despite having an unfavorable opinion of him?
People who felt it was their civic duty to vote, and liked the other candidates even less than they liked McCain.
Hello, Marc-
Great find on the poll, and those crosstabs were very insightful.
Prior to reading the comments, I did in fact notice that 7% of McCain's unfavorables were supporting him, and was forced to conclude as the commenters above did - i.e., that they might not like McCain but they like the other two even less...
The post on my site:
Jim, It's even worse for Huckabee, a full quarter of the people voting for him don't like him. Strange to say the least.
Nope, not this Republican, either. My wife and I look forward to casting our votes for Romney tomorrow in the California primary. I consider the fact that the rest of the politicians "hate" him as a huge plus.
Bob K:
You misread the table. Only 4% of Huck's voters view him unfavorably.
I have trouble believing that so many voters still support Bush.
To what extent does the poll reflect an information gap?
For instance, McCain is currently carpetbombing KFI with commercials lying about his immigration plans, and the MSM - including our host - refuse to ask him the questions that would reveal his true nature.
If the MSM actually did their job and asked him real questions, wouldn't his support plummet?
I don't call myself Republican, and I rarely give money, but I always vote that way. And I nearly always vote in the primaries. Do I count?
I wanted Fred, and Rudy was my second choice, but I'll take McCain over Romney or Huckabee. I don't understand the hatred. It really does seem unhinged.
I don't understand the hatred either, but its origin may be that Mac committed an enormous heresy in the eyes of Rush and company by challenging GWB in 2000.
I'm a liberal-leaning voter. I like Bush and I will vote Republican in November 2008 if McCain wins the Republican nomination. Sure, there are a few things I don't like about McCain's record, like McCain-Feingold and his 1999 FCC intervention on behalf of Global Crossings. I also thought poorly of the "Gang of Fourteen" compromise but in retrospect did end Democrat filibusters of Bush's judicial nominees. So, at the end of the day it was probably good politics. However, he is strongest on my pet issue for presidential candidates, which is foreign policy.
It's easy to understand why Republicans don't like McCain: McCain-Feingold, the gang of 14 opposing conservative judge nominations, comprehensive immigration bill co-written with Ted Kennedy, he opposed the Bush tax cuts, his comment about the 1st amendment versus an orderly society and his association with Americans for Gun Safety.
Do you need any other reasons? I could probably find some more. I don't hate him, but I also don't see him as being anything but a slightly less toxic version of Hillary.
THE BIGGEST REASON mccain aint a Republican is this: in 2004, he wanted to be Democrat John Kerry's Vice Presidential candidate, against a sitting Republican president!
HOW THE HELL CAN HE CLAIM TO BE "a good Republican"?
Only a good turncoat!
In 2004, mccain also said:
“I believe my party has gone astray. I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and in their philosophy.”
Astry? Thanks to mcrazy, it has.
Vote for Hillary in 2008.
Here is the funny thing. McCain's supporters have the poorest opinion of George W Bush.
And yet, McCain is the candidate most like Bush on the issues. A McCain presidency would be focused on fighting in Iraq abroad and on trying to get amnesty passed here in the US. This sounds so familiar....
Plus more of the same Bushlike dealing making with Ted Kennedy. McCain even has Bush's stubborn-as-a-mule temperment.
So why do the Bush haters love McCain? Nobody said the voters are smart.
McCain voters have a very low opinion of Huckabee, while the Huck people just love McCain. Again, people are strange.
The Democrats have an advantage with this election because I think they are voting between two candidates they really like, while the GOP seems to be picking candidates on the lesser of two evils theory.
I think the GOP is in a very bad state but it will get even worse if McCain is our candidate because he 1) not a very big advocate for conservative values and 2) the ones he does hold (war and fighting the GWOT) he doesn't articulate them very well. He just isn't that bright or a very good communicator. And if there ever was a need for a good communicator up against a super popular Obama or a slick candidate like Clinton, it's now.
IMHO, Mitt is the best communicator on the GOP side, evidenced in all the debates. Plus Mitt has raised more money than any other GOP candidate and the GOP needs that badly.
Jim:
Can you read? Over 70% of Republicans do have a favorable opinion of McCain, not the other way around and he is the only Republican with a favorable rating over 50 overall.
I think too many people on the right are confusing the loud mouth pundits and talk radio people with real Republicans and voters. Some of the people, like Coulter and Rush have completely lost their wits.
And you know what else? I have had family members serve in Iraq. I would hate to the see their sacrifices rendered meaningless by a cry baby bunch of sore losers who figure that they would rather see a Democrat surrender Iraq than see McCain win it. If Republicans do that, then there is no reason for me to continue to support this party. If conservatives like Dole, Olson, Kemp, Forbes, Coburn are not enough to convince people that McCain is the real thing, then to hell with them. The party has been taken over by the loons and is nothing but a fringe group run by a bunch of demagogues and sore losers.
The problem with McCain is that he is indistinguishable from Joe Lieberman. At heart he is a democrat--he doesn't understand economics, think that across the board tax cuts shouldn't "favor" those who are paying the highest taxes, panders to illegal immigration, thinks businesses are bad, thinks that big pharma is bad, etc. etc. etc.
The ONLY area of agreement I have with him is the war on terror.
Is that enough for me to support him? I haven't decided yet.
As Ann Coulter says, if the democrats' policies are going to hurt America, would you rather the blame go to a democrat or to McCain? She would prefer the blame to go to a democrat.
I'd say that "Republican and Republican leaning" aren't necessarily Republicans. So this misrepresents actual Republicans. Do straight Republicans and see what you get.
I'll put on my gas mask and haz-mat suit and push the button for McCain before I'd vote for any Democrat or stay home. Didn't the Clinton-Bush-Perot fiasco teach us anything??? Do you really want 4 - 8 more of the Clintons or the pseudo-Christian Muslim man???
I don't "love" McCain, but I am going to pull the lever for him today. I think he can win. Nixon proved that McCain's politics of running on the left side of the Republican party, but certainly to the right of the Dem's Center, if that makes any sense, can win huge.
So, this election may well boil down to a choice between Nixon and Nixon, his policies (McCain) and his ethics (Hillary)
by the bye, I think that surrender of Iraq at this late date would be a disaster that would haunt us even longer than Jimmy Carter's idiocy and misjudgements that led to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and all that that has led to. Carter, instead of forcefully warning off the Soviets, had a hissy fit because they invaded when his judgement was that the "reasonable" Soviets would never do such a thing.
I hate to beat a dead internet horse, but there are FOUR Republican candidates still running, not three dammit!
The problem with John McCain is he compromises with Democrats to help government get something done at times when conservatives would prefer no action by government over a bad compromise. And it appears that John McCain likes to get in front of television cameras a little too much, socializing with the opposite team. At a time when conservatives want to prune back government, John McCain seems likely to help ratchet up it's size and scope.
"At a time when conservatives want to prune back government, John McCain seems likely to help ratchet up it's size and scope."
This is a stupid statement. The only candidate who has demonstrated any real interest in limiting the size and scope of the government is McCain. Well, there is Ron Paul but he's not got a chance to win.
If you want limited government, you should love McCain and hate George W. Bush. That so many conservative pundits have the exact opposite opinion tells you how "conservative" they really are.
Mike
If Huckabee drops out, his voters will split 41 - 25 McCain over Romney, so the conventional wisdom that Huckabee is helping McCain is wrong.
I'm taking a break from politics until tonight.
How do you keep the New England Patriots out of your back yard?
Put up goal posts.
*ba-da-Bump*
What do Bill Bellichek and Billy Graham have in common?
They can both make 75,000 people jump up and shout, "JESUS CHRIST!"
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Nope, not this one.
Posted by Carolina | February 4, 2008 12:44 PM