[ShawTaylor]

We're supposed to be impressed by online self-selected polls?

Not you personally, no.
But Freeper member polls do mean something to most Freepers.
As a rule, they tend to reflect the views of most Freepers.
Plus of course there have been plenty of polls posted here which have had Giuliani besting McCain even amongst conservatives.
Let's face it, McCain is not the most popular figure amongst conservatives in this country.

[George W. Bush]

But Freeper member polls do mean something to most Freepers. As a rule, they tend to reflect the views of most Freepers.

Maybe. A lot of people never vote in them. I did vote in one earlier this election season but hadn't done so in the last year. Most of the time, I never check the poll or its results. But that's just me. We (and the Kos Kids) have made these online polls such a mockery that I don't take them seriously no matter where they're hosted. But it is our original claim to fame.

Since you weren't around back then, that is how we got started. That's how we got our name (FReepers, freeping a poll).

Let's face it, McCain is not the most popular figure amongst conservatives in this country.

No. But he's fairly popular with the indies that we must have to win. And I've seen considerable softening toward him recently. I think the next poll on him here at FR will indicate it. Well, if I even notice it...

FR is not and will never be the mainstream of the Republican party and there are many factions here. If you'd been here during the pre-Bush years, you'd understand. We are, on average, more conservative. We also have much longer memories and nurse more grudges toward squishes like McStain. And we'll turn on a writer like a pack of rabid dogs (I exempt myself on that one since I always spoke out against Hackworth and Andrew Sullivan and other faux-conservatives as representing conservatives). You even see people chewing up Coulter these days.