"None of the above" wins in poll of Republican voters. Thinking people only please?
I saw something that made me think of this thread so I figured I'd post it so those critical thinkers out there can chew on this a while:
There was a poll among Evangelical Christians that eventually said that out of all of the Republican Candidates available, "None of the above" was the most popular answer.
Now two questions based on that:
1) Why is it that the only people that are regularly quoted and seemingly courted by the Republican party is evangelical Christians? Not that there's anything wrong with that per se. I just thought that a party should make efforts to be inclusive. When you feel that one of the basic tenets of the party is fiscal conservatism (in theory) why, if your goal is to win an election, would you exclude those who are not socially conservative out of hand?
2) (More chilling if your Republican) How bad is the Republican field if "None of the above" wins the poll?
1) Evangelical Christians make up the Republican base. They're a group that will consistently vote Republican, so they're a good indicator of who will win the GOP nomination.
2) Republicans know their candidates in 2008 at terrible.
Giuliani = 3 divorces, socially liberal, running purely on 9/11 Romney = two-faced flip-flopping phoney Thompson = lazy former lobbyist McCain = supports the Iraq war and illegal amnesty
I'm not at all surprised that 'none of the above' was the top answer, especially since none of these candidates are very religious. Romney is a Mormon, so he's certainly not going to get the Evangelical vote. I wonder if Thompson was an option in the poll, and if he was beaten by 'none of the above'.
1) A Republican candidate can't win if he doesn't get the Evangelical base to vote for him.
Democrats also have their far left fringe, but they've done a better job of shutting them up than the Republicans have of shutting up the far right.
Typically, you see polarized candidates in the primaries, then a traditional push to the center in time for the general election. Hillary is doing the opposite, she's already moved to the center, except when she's in front of a far left audience.
2) It doesn't matter if none of the above wins a poll, because it's not on the ballot.
This will be the first election in which one side will have planned for eight years just for this one day.
It would be interesting to see this poll. Who took the poll and how scientific was it? If it is just evangelical Christians who are in the poll what does it say about the whole GOP? Not much. Those people are only a part of the Republican base. Most people don't identify with them. Mainstream Republicans are fed up with the neocons and the religious right who have hijacked their party and they don't see much hope for recovery in any of their party's presidential runners and several of the Congressional GOPers will bite the dust too. Don't be surprised at a Democratic landslide similar to the one where LBJ defeated Barry Goldwater in 1964.
The evangelicals vote as a block and tend to decide primary elections. That's why they are important at the moment. Plus, there just so oddly fascinating to listen to (opinion). People with extreme political views do much better on television news. I'm a moderate (conservative democrat) and would be an incredibly boring interview. I want to know how things would be implemented, how we would pay for them, long term ramifications . . . you know boring.
The chilling thing about question 2 (for me) is that I am fairly satisfied with Ron Paul, Huckabee, Rudy - So how far to the right do you think these people are? I've never met one in person so I have no idea.
1.) The evangelical base is huge so people want their votes. There was a NY Times article recently on Hillary Clinton and her Christian faith. Guess she's trying to pander to the evangelicals too. (the article is awfully convenient)
2.) Lots are waiting for Thompson. It's obvious most Reps aren't happy with their choices. It even shows in the amount of money the candidates are raising.