Edwards Outperforms Other Dems In 2008 Scenarios - (Hillary loses to McCain & Giuliani)

Marist College has some new polling data on possible 2008 presidential race match-ups:

Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton leads the Democratic field with 40 percent support. John Kerry comes in second, with 18 percent, followed by John Edwards with 16 percent.

Rudy Giuliani leads the GOP pack with 27 percent of polled Republicans backing him. John McCain places second with 20 percent and Jeb Bush taking in 10 percent. Marist says their data shows Giuliani’s approval numbers steadily climbing since the Bernard Kerik scandal last December. 71 percent of Republicans would at least like to see him run.

However, Marist has some interesting party match-up numbers. Though more Republicans support Giuliani, John McCain plays stronger with the general electorate. McCain comes out ahead of both Clinton and Kerry in possible electoral showdowns. However, the Democrat who fares best against the Republicans is John Edwards.

Edwards comes out 3 points ahead of Giuliani and 3 behind McCain. Clinton would lose to both Giuliani and McCain.

Marist polled 1,007 voters. 838 of the respondents are registered voters, including 376 Democrats and 352 Republicans.

"I say that I could never vote for McCain, but then again, if he becomes the nominee (which I seriously doubt he can achieve), and the other choice is Killery, I guess I'd have to hold my nose and vote for McCain. I really can't imagine myself doing it, though."

You might just as well vote for Hillary. If McCain gets the nomination I'm through with the Republican Party for good.

Interesting. That figures into my line of thought as well. That rather than the front runners of today, the candidate for each side may be someone no one is taking seriously (if their even generating any buzz at all) at this point. For some reason people can accept that as a possibility for the Republican nominations, but they've accepted H.C. is a given on the Dem ticket. IMO, I think a number of people do not fully under the makeup of the Dem base at the moment. It is not a given they'll vote for Hillary at all.

They want to win. But they also want to win on a pure Liberal ideology, as they have adopted the term Liberalism to represent. A Maxist godless Global Community. I don't think anyone can know which will be the more powerful draw four years from now.

Edwards is living in a dream world. He couldn't even win his own state. I like Rudy, I'd vote for him in a general election, but I wouldn't vote to send him to that general election. He's a Liberal loyal Republican straight on what he believes that is strong on Defense. Preferable to anyone the Dems are likely to put up. I'd prefer a conservative though, and will vote accoringly in the primary.

McCain will never have my vote. These polsters can continue to put his name out there but without base support, he loses. The prospect of anyone short of Hitler on the Dem aisle could not entice me to vote for him.

Thanks for the response and fleshing out my thoughts. I don't have a Crystal Ball but IMO, the changes we have seen from 1994 to the 'o4 election will continue to accelerate and moving to the right side of the political spectrum. I am increasingly doubtful that the Clinton or the other Leftist hopefuls will have much traction after the '06 elections. Time will tell, but I would take even odds that Hillary will not be the Nominee.

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