The Do-No-Harm Voters
Some GOP Voters' Top Issue Is Not Making Trouble
By Dan McLaughlin Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | John McCain | Mitt Romney — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
It's always hazardous to read too much into a single poll, let alone the cross-tabs from a single small-sample poll, but I was looking at the breakdowns from the lastest SurveyUSA poll of 556 actual or likely GOP primary voters in California, and I noticed something interesting from the tabs breaking out McCain and Romney voters by their top issues:
Economy
McCain 51
Romney 32
Health Care
McCain 63
Romney 19
Environment
Romney 53
McCain 27
Immigration
Romney 52
McCain 19
(Voters who listed education or Social Security first put Huckabee above the other two. Whereas on foreign policy, McCain drew a commanding lead among Iraq-War voters).
Why is this interesting? Well, which candidate is most associated with doing something about the economy, and with having a health care plan? Romney. Which candidate is most associated with "comprehensive immigration reform" and environmental legislation? McCain. Yet at least in this one survey, voters who listed those issues first preferred the candidate who seems less likely to make something happen in Washington.
Maybe among Republican voters, the hunger for change is outweighed by concern that no matter who wins, Washington is just going to make things worse.
« Dueling June Obama fundraising claims? — Comments (2) | As JFK Once Said Of Nixon . . . — Comments (23) »
The Do-No-Harm Voters 10 Comments (0 topical, 10 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I voted McCain this morning. Time to start printing up those "Sigh. I Guess I'm For McCain." bumper stickers.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
This morning, before going to the polling place, I dug out my old Dungeons & Dragons board and rolled the dice.
...against a Democratic presidency? Is it the same roll you'd need to avoid Hillary's gaze turning you into stone?
I voted early in the Florida primary. Find out who and why.
You have to be able to withstand the pain of voting for the nominee no matter what.
HTML Help for Red Staters
"If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work." – Barry Goldwater
That was hilarious!
absentee
I'm actually a very sunny guy in person, most of the time. But there's no doubt that I can be moody, and today's a pea-soup foggy, moody day here in midwestern Massachusetts -- with drizzling rain and ice on the roads that's shifting back and forth across the heat of fusion threshold, and with a generally gloomy undertone. I was hoping for a ray of sunshine to break through this morning but no such luck, but I appreciate the compliment.
My vote officially remains a secret of the dice. On a day like today, I came to the conclusion that my powers of perception and prediction were no better overall than that simple expeident.
Wow - that is an interesting poll. I would have thought Romney would have won among economy-minded folks. Didn't McCain win among the same demographic in FL? Is there some condescension when Romney talks about his business acumen or something else?
People worried about the economy blame Bush, McCain is anti-Bush, therefore they are for McCain.
People worried about immigration mostly want less of it, not more, so they are against McCain.
People who have healthcare as their top issue are probably thinking along similar lines to economy voters. But my understanding is that Romney has said he does not want to introduce the MA solution at a federal level. So he is the person less likely to do something in DC, albeit he has a record of actually doing something at the state level.
Environment, I would guess, is similar to immigration. People might be very concerned about the issue, but still strongly oppose what McCain wants to do about it.
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
International Editor of
As on the Democratic side, I think the Republicans are looking at the choice between idealism and pragmatism. McCain, at this point, is a pragmatic choice -- especially after the complete disaster Bush has been for the Big Tent that Reagan built in 1980. Like Democrats and Hillary, people are going to be holding their noses and hoping for the best come November. Everyone knows what's at stake: the courts, the 2010 census and redistricting, the future of US foreign policy...
Maybe it's time for everyone, regardless of party, to start looking into instant runoff voting. Something that gives those candidates -- the ones the media ignores -- a real chance to pick up momentum. If nobody fears "throwing away their vote", then perhaps we can find some real change in our political system.
(Disclaimer: this is a center-left point-of-view, a registered independent).
I just voted here in Massachusetts and...
I'm in that nebulous category of:
"Do no harm except when you think maybe some harm needs to be done but only if someone is running a good candidacy but not if the numbers are going against him, except if you don't think that matters, and you should vote for party unity even though that means a vote for a fractured coalition where there are multiple centers of influence but nobody should take their marbles and go home, or hold grudges, except that some candidates would be a disaster in the General and others would be a disaster for the Party, and you shouldn't vote for a backstabber but you also shouldn't vote for a flip-flopper except if in some cases you need one or the other and there's nobody left."
That's the kind of voter *I* am in this election! Yay!