Libertarians Favor Obama and Other Looks at Election 2008

Rasmussen Reports ^ | July 05, 2008 | Rasmussen Reports

[Kleebo151]

Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin. Three percent (3%) would vote for some other candidate and 5% are not sure.

[traviskicks]

er, i mean socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

[decimon]

What do you mean? Have they changed? I’m generally a fan of the folks at reason.com.

My subscription to Reason goes back many years and runs to 2023 but I've stopped reading it. And Hit & Run is just annoying so I now mostly avoid that. Too much adolescent crap and too much advocacy of 'causes.' Ain't supposed to be that way.

[traviskicks]

I don’t go there too often myself. My favorite blog is actually the club for growth blog:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/

very libertarian in nature.

[ETL]

Actually, the line should have read: “Librarians favor Obama and Other Books...”

Did you mean, "Liberal Librarians favor Obama's Books"

[decimon]

Yeah, I remember when Stephen Moore was with the Club For Growth and before that when he was considered libertarian. Small-government libertarian, that is, and not on the anarchist fringe.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this excellent summary of what happens daily on Free Republic:

I am not surprised — just read a lot of the posts here. There are a lot of libertarians on this site. They want to take revenge on the Republicans, even if it means destroying the country. This makes them feel “powerful”.

[Mike Darancette]

I can not conceive of anything that Obama has ever said or done that would appeal to a small government type like a Libertarian.

[ETL]

waaaah! i dont care if obami 'cums pezident and deetwoys dis contry! ...if i dont get ewery wittle ding i wan *wite now*, i will not wote for jon mccain! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tired of Taxes]

Either this poll is flawed, or those who call themselves libertarians are very mistaken about what it is to be a libertarian.

A few years ago, I was having a discussion about politics with some extremely Left-leaning homeschool mothers, and they considered themselves "libertarians". I told them they were NOT libertarians; they were Democrats/Green Party/Michael Moore types. On a few issues, they held the libertarian position, but everyone is libertarian on one or two issues. People like them probably responded to this poll.

[FocusNexus]

The Club for Growth is is a great organization, but they are NOT libertarian. And you are not going to catch them supporting Obama, that’s for sure.

They are pro free enterprise, capitalism and fiscal conservatism.

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/about.php

About Club for Growth

Club for Growth is a national network of thousands of Americans, from all walks of life, who believe that prosperity and opportunity come through economic freedom. We work to promote public policies that promote economic growth primarily through legislative involvement, issue advocacy, research, training and educational activity.

The primary tactic of the separate Club for Growth PAC is to provide financial support from Club members to viable pro-growth candidates to Congress, particularly in Republican primaries.

Club for Growth Policy Goals:

Making the Bush tax cuts permanent
Death tax repeal
Cutting and limiting government spending
Social Security reform with personal retirement accounts
Expanding free trade
Legal reform to end abusive lawsuits
Replacing the current tax code
School choice
Regulatory reform and deregulation

[doug from upland]

This is another example of why I mock Libertarians.

[FrogMom]

So libertarians favor a socialist? I don’t get it.

Me either!

[traviskicks]

I am a big Stephan Moore fan.

[traviskicks]

Those are all libertarian goals. I think if you examine it closely, libertarianism is really just conservatism on steriods. :)

If you’d like to read about what the Club For Growth said about the most libertarian presidential candidate, feel free, I think it’s very fair:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/10/ron_pauls_record_on_economic_i.php

[yantis]

Thank you for pointing out the Reagan quote. I came late to the tread as I'm enjoying the sun and pools on vacation, but when the re-pube-icans here fail to acknowledge what the greatest President of my lifetime (elected the year before I was born) thought about libertarianism, it reveals their "vote for the R" mentality. That being said, we're so screwed in January regardless of who is elected. No one running (that's right...NO ONE) has a history of upholding the constitution and reducing the size of government. Barr, McCain, Obambi, or Nader are all so far from the founding fathers that it's disturbing. I voted for the almighty R the last 2 presidential elections and what did it get me? A Ted the Swimmer Kennedy written education bill, no child left behind, the prescription medicare bill, and a silent invasion of our country by foreign nationals of our southern neighbor.

When will we get a real American running for office? That, I think, is the more important question. November is a loss. I'm not a R or a D, I'm an American. The direction we're headed is to join the dustbin of history along with the ancient Mayans, Romans, Greeks, Egyptians..etc.

There's just one thing I agree with Ron Paul on. The enemies inside the gates are far more dangerous at this time than the enemy outside the gates...be it islamofascists, liberals, or the illustrious 5 on the supreme court.

[B Knotts]

No libertarian could support a commie like Obama.

[radioman]

The enemies inside the gates are far more dangerous at this time than the enemy outside the gates...be it islamofascists, liberals, or the illustrious 5 on the supreme court.

Agree 100%.

[Grampa Dave]

This is perfect:

waaaah! i dont care if obami 'cums pezident and deetwoys dis contry! ...if i dont get ewery wittle ding i wan *wite now*, i will not wote for jon mccain! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eric Blair 2084]

I agree. I don’t buy this for a second.

[daedalus12]

No I don't think liberals would've ended up as libertarians in Rasmussen's poll because it doesn't actually ask the people partipating whether or not they are libertarians. The methodology used simply gives the respondents a political quiz like the Political Compass and determines the respondent's political category from his or her scores in the social and fiscal categories. A libertarian is very fiscally conservative and socially liberal i.e. they usually end up at the bottom right corner in the political compass. And really 4% isn't inflated despite Badnarik’s poor showing in 04. Remember even libertarians will vote for mainstream candidates or most likely not vote at all. I am a Libertarian myself and voted for Bush in 04 (my first vote in a presidential election as I turned 18 in 02). I voted for Romney in the Georgia republican primary. I will most likely be sitting this election out as I have no desire to vote for Bob Barr. Even if Obama wins the election I think nothing will come of it. Certainly not the ridiculous doomsday scenario that some people on this board like to spout (jokingly or not). As The Economist has already analyzed hidden beneath all the campaign rhetoric while Obama’s economic advisors may not be Chicago school but really they are very moderate.