Today in my philosophy class the professor noted that, from what he has gathered through conversations with his students and peers, many voters this election are being especially inflexible concerning whom they are voting for. More clearly, he ascertained that those that are voting for Obama tomorrow have pledged that they would rather vote for McCain than Hillary in the general election, and those voting for Hillary have pledged they would rather vote for McCain than Obama. In my own informal poll, I found the same results. I even discovered that those who are voting for McCain would rather vote for the Democratic candidate than any other Republican on the final ticket.
Why is everyone being so stubborn?
Newsweek is currently running an article which points to voters’ emotions as the culprit. The Bush administration is leaving behind a fearful and anxious American public, with the seemingly never-ending war and impending recession doing little to assuage citizens’ worries. Due to the current political climate, many Americans are choosing candidates for reasons relating to how the candidate makes them feel more so than in the past.
The article points out that with candidates whose policy differences are as scarce as they are between Obama and Hillary, voters almost have no choice but to look elsewhere to form an opinion. In regards to the struggling GOP, the article points to Guiliani’s departure from the race as evidence that voters were heavily influenced by his shoddy personal life, and with their hearts outweighing their minds, they therefore could not support him.
I cannot wait for tomorrow to be over, not necessarily because I’d like to see who comes out ahead, but because I’d like to see what the polling data reveals about these observations.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107601/page/1
2 comments:
I do think this is a very interesting phenomenon to witness. I’ve talked to a number of people, both Republican and Democrat, would consider endorsing McCain or Obama but not Hillary. In some respects, it seems like a bit of a backwards approach to take to the elections. While there is no doubt the country is dying for change, it seems like change needed is primarily in the policy department. It seems like voters would be looking at who can do the best job to help stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan, get the economy going, etc. Clinton’s departure from the White House left many calling for a return of morality in the White House but this does not seem like the reason behind Bush’s record-low approval ratings.
I have noticed an alternative manifestation of the strong emotions present in this primary: last week I spoke with several friends who were agonizing over whether to vote for Obama or Clinton because they really like them BOTH. My anecdotal evidence suggests that young women, especially, were sometimes faced with an excruciating decision. Although drawn to Obama's unifying message, they couldn't help but feel that they might "betray" their gender by not helping the woman candidate advance (a concern that Oprah herself sought to quash at an Obama rally yesterday).
On the Republican side, I have also encountered McCain supporters who claim they would vote for Obama if anyone other than McCain were to win the GOP nomination. On the other hand, there are Republicans like Ann Coulter who claim they would vote for Clinton if McCain IS the nominee! These are quite dramatic, and indeed, emotion-infused statements.
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