AP-Yahoo poll shows McCain winning back unhappy Republicans

AP ^ | Apr 17, 2008 | ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON

[tlb]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans are no longer underdogs in the race for the White House. To pull that off, John McCain has attracted disgruntled GOP voters, independents and even some moderate Democrats who shunned his party last fall.

Partly thanks to an increasingly likable image, the Republican presidential candidate has pulled even with the two Democrats still brawling for their party's nomination, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo news poll released Thursday. Just five months ago - before either party had winnowed its field - the survey showed people preferred sending an unnamed Democrat over a Republican to the White House by 13 percentage points.

Also helping the Arizona senator close the gap: Peoples' opinions of Hillary Rodham Clinton have soured slightly, while their views of Barack Obama have improved though less impressively than McCain's.

The survey suggests that those switching to McCain are largely attuned to his personal qualities and McCain may be benefiting as the two Democrats snipe at each other during their prolonged nomination fight.

By tracking the same group of roughly 2,000 people throughout the campaign, the AP-Yahoo poll can gauge how individual views are evolving. What's clear is that some Republican-leaning voters who backed Bush in 2004 but lost enthusiasm for him are returning to the GOP fold - along with a smaller but significant number of Democrats who have come to dislike their party's two contenders.

[MBB1984]

The reality is that America's failure to enforce its sovereignty and borders will effectively cause its cultural and economic demise long before any Islamic terrorist.

A more rational example of delusion or insanity is a self described “conservative” who votes for McCain and believes the conservatives will remain an effective and significant force within the GOP after a McCain victory.

[Alas Babylon!]

I think that if and when a real conservative runs we’ll then know. The biggest problem with this years race was that no conservatives ran. I was probably more for Fred Thompson than any of the candidates, and even he wasn’t a real conservative, but the closest of all.

As far as the US Congress goes, I’m doing my share! US Senators Shelby (R-AL) and Sessions (R-AL), and Rep Terry Everett (R-AL), conservatives all. `

[Southack]

You need to get out more, and when you do finally get out, try to *listen* to what others are saying...

...because what you have to say won’t help you reverse your problem, and no other human is going to care about your ramblings once they see you in the flesh.

So just go listen.

There’s a whole world out there for you, if you’ll just shut up.

[elfman2]

“I think that if and when a real conservative runs we’ll then know.”

I’d be more confident of that if we didn’t nominate the most liberal candidate running.

[elfman2]

"

If McCain gets elected, we should support him when he acts as a Conservative, and he will on some issues. On those issues where he does not act as a Conservative, we need to oppose him vigorously."

I don't disagree with that, but that's not the concern.

We're trying to decide if we should support McCain getting elected in the first place. If so, there may not be a major party representing conservatism. The concern essentially is if the negative consequences of and Obama presidency along with its positive effects on conservatism together be better in the long run than the less negative consequences of a McCain presidency along with the negative effects on conservatism?

I don't think the choice is clear.

[comebacknewt]

If the stakes weren't so high, I would agree with you about the choice being unclear.

However, given that I am not at all certain that one of Obama's first acts in office would not be to unilaterally surrender to the terrorists, I can't see any circumstance that would make me find his victory acceptable.

[Norman Bates]

The McCain List.

[NucSubs]

I can’t believe people are still so willing to attribute principled opposition to McCain to something as petty and emotional as “hatred”.

The refusal to cast a vote for McCain is based on considered evaluation of the options and consequences.

The consequences of both jettisoning principles overboard and voting for the lesser of two evils, as well as the consequences of lending legitimacy and support to a man who is the light version of Hillary and who will drag the party even further to the left.

[NucSubs]

Excellent.

I voted RP as well.

[Ditter]

Thanks for your honesty. People here who hate McCain are standing in line to vote against him as well. I wish they could all read your remarks about what your Perot vote did, and how you look at that vote now.

IMO Perot was not an honest candidate but a candidate who's intent was to defeat GHW Bush, not to be elected to the presidency.

[50sDad]

I wish they could all read your remarks about what your Perot vote did, and how you look at that vote now.

"When I was a child, I thought as a child."

[CindyDawg]

I didn’t but it doesn’t mean I never will, even though I have voted for a Republican president every time since I was 18. I respect other people’s right to vote for who they want. None of them should ever own your vote.

[Ditter]

We just got our first fund raising letter from McCain. We will donate but not until he gets a hand written letter from me. Hopefully I will get a reply but even if I don’t he will get our donation and our votes.

To do anything else is insanity!

[Golden Gate]

GOP Primary 2008: Need Fresh Faces & New Talent = Gregg Cunningham / Jason Lewis - (Radio Host, KTLK FM, MN) GOP should try Gregg Cunningham / Jason Lewis -(KTLK radio-MN) 2008 = Tried the Rest, Now the Best!

Gregg Cunningham Conservative Republican Gregg's civilian & military bio (Click to page; then scroll down to bio...)

Jason Lewis Leading Conservative Spokesman Radio Talk Show Host 100.3 FM KTLK News Talk, Twin Cities, MN Jason Lewis Bio

  Gregg Cunningham   earned a BA degree from The Pennsylvania State University and a JD degree from The Ohio Northern University School of Law where he served as executive editor of the Law Review.  He is the co-author of a handbook on attorney misconduct entitled “Ethics And Discipline In Ohio” (Ohio State Bar Foundation, 1976).

He is a former two-term Member of The Pennsylvania House of Representatives where he introduced legislation which ended public funding for abortion. He was also a prime sponsor of the Abortion Control Act which was litigated before the U.S. Supreme Court in Thornburgh v. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He later helped direct the ballot initiative campaign which stopped public funding for abortion in Colorado.

During the first Reagan Administration he served as a political appointee in the U.S. Department of Education and later in The Office of Legislative Affairs with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He next served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles.

He is a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Colonel with six years of active duty service and twenty-five years in the ready reserve. He is also a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.



  Gregg Cunningham   is a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Colonel with six years of active duty service and twenty-five years in the ready reserve.  He is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. 

After leaving active duty, he served as an aircraft maintenance officer and later as a military lawyer with units of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. He then served as an intelligence officer with the 140th Tactical Fighter Wing of the Colorado Air National Guard.

During temporary duty assignments at the Pentagon, he helped coordinate drug enforcement policy for the National Guard Bureau and provided staff support (Political Military Affairs) for the Commanders in Chief, Major Commands/Joint Chiefs of Staff War Game. 

He spent the last eleven years of his military career assigned to the Pentagon, first as a Logistics Plan & Program staff officer and then as an intelligence officer with the Checkmate Division of the Air Force Staff and then in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness. During the former assignment he helped plan the logistical support for the air campaign conducted during the Persian Gulf War.

[Golden Gate]

FYI - Post # 114

GOP Primary 2008: Need Fresh Faces & New Talent = Gregg Cunningham / Jason Lewis -(Talk Radio, MN)

Link to Thread: GOP should try Gregg Cunningham / Jason Lewis -(KTLK radio-MN) 2008 = Tried the Rest, Now the Best!

[Golden Gate]

FYI - Post # 114

GOP Primary 2008: Need Fresh Faces & New Talent = Gregg Cunningham / Jason Lewis -(Talk Radio, MN)

Link to Thread: GOP should try Gregg Cunningham / Jason Lewis -(KTLK radio-MN) 2008 = Tried the Rest, Now the Best!

[Shryke]

I don’t understand your post.

[Shryke]

I am going to tease you a little bit the day after the election. I bet you vote Mccain. You’ll bitch and moan about it, sure, but you’ll vote Mccain.

[Golden Gate]

Don’t understand, or not trying.

The Thread:

The GOP & the USA needs an alternative to John McCain. Need to discuss this fully now before the convention.

[Golden Gate]

& going offline for Fri. pm.