Tuesday, August 30, 2011

22% of Dems Preferred a Different Candidate

Rick Moran
It's about 15% higher than what you would normally get in a re-election year, but it is still significant because dissatisified people don't usually vote. If just 2-3% fewer voters turn out for the president, and the GOP nominee gets the same percentage as McCain, it makes re-election very difficult for Obama.
A new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 percent of Democrats would like to see their party nominate a candidate other than Barack Obama for president in 2012.
In response to the question, "Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party's candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?" -- 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.
The poll was taken August 24-25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. Polls taken in July and before showed Obama in a stronger position, with no more than 22 percent saying they preferred a different candidate. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The new poll is another indication of Democratic unhappiness with the president, but it does not mean Obama will face a challenge in his party's primaries. Despite the complaints of a few liberals like Sen. Bernard Sanders, the odds of a Democrat opposing the president appear to be something less than zero.
The Democrats simply have no credible alternative. Hillary Clinton won't enter the race for the simple reason there's not enough time for her to mount a serious primary challenge. Fringe candidates like Kucinich may enter the primaries but they need not be taken seriously. The Dems are stuck with Obama whether they like it or not.
Many of them apparently do not.

No comments: