The Hillary Supporter Myth
The Democratic Party is in crisis. With Sen. Barack Obama clinching the title of presumptive nominee thousands of Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters are bolting from the party and lining up with Sen. John McCain. It has to be true because blogs and websites are popping up all over the Internet saying it is so and self proclaimed former-Clinton-supporters-now-McCain-backers are angrily calling Air America radio shows proclaiming they know of many supporters who are leaving the party because they don’t believe in Obama as a strong candidate.
But hold the phone, if this is the case, where the hell is the McCain bump?
Recent polls show the Arizona Senator losing ground, not gaining ground. If a mass of Clinton supporters are lining up behind McCain, shouldn’t he be seeing his percentage points increase? Let’s take a look at Rasmussen Daily Tracking.
Without leaners McCain has pretty much stayed stagnant since June 4 averaging 41 percent over the seven day period. Obama on the other hand was at 43 percent on June 4 and has crept up ever since. This morning he was at 47 percent (the last three days he was at 48 percent.
Adding in the leaners McCain was 45 percent on June 4, but during the past five days he has been flipping back and forth between 43 and 45 percent. Obama was at 47 percent on June 4 and now sits at 50 percent.
The trend is repeated throughout the pollsters. Here are the last three NBC polls:
3/08
Obama: 44
McCain: 42
4/08
Obama: 46
McCain: 43
No May listed
6/08
Obama: 47
McCain: 41
Gallup is no different. Back on June 1 Obama and McCain were tied, both with 46 percent. On June 8 they pulled apart with Obama hitting 48 percent and McCain at 42 percent. it has remained that way ever since.
I don’t doubt that there are a handful of Clinton supporters who are going to vote against their best interests in November and pull the lever for McCain. Just like if Obama didn’t win a handful of “Obama supporters” would have done the same. But I am positive the majority of these Clinton Supporters 4 McCain hoopla is simply Conservative shenanigans. And yes, I did use both “hoopla” and “shenanigans” in the same sentence.
Like this:
~ by CometStarMoon on June 12, 2008.
Posted in Politics
Tags: barack obama, election 2008, hillary clinton
Here’s an interesting story on a Clinton delegate who professed support for McCain: