No Newts
A new Zogby poll asks responsdents which candidate would NEVER get their votes, and the dubious honor for #1 goes to Newt:
With the actual voting still a long way into the future, more than half of the American electorate has already made up its mind about who they won’t be casting ballots for in 2008 – 53% said they would never vote for Newt Gingrich, even as the Georgia firebrand continues to mull a jump into the field of Republican presidential candidates, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows.
The leading Democrat in the race can’t feel much solace – nearly half (46%) said they have an aversion to voting for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. In a national Zogby telephone survey of likely Democratic primary voters in late February, she led the field of Democratic presidential candidates at 33%. It’s no surprise Clinton has been written off by a vast majority of self-described conservative (70%) and very conservative (79%) voters, but even among moderate voters, 42% said they would never cast a vote to put Clinton into the White House.
Another potential candidate attracting a high percentage of antipathy is Al Gore – 43% said they would never vote for the former vice president and 2000 presidential candidate. While Gore has not officially jumped into the 2008 presidential fray, his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has kept his name in the headlines as opposing sides clash over global warming. Gore may also have some trouble wooing moderate voters – 39% have already made up their mind they would never vote Gore in 2008.
Hmmm…I didn’t see Rudy in there, did you? In fact:
There is similar voter resistance to the top declared Republican candidates – 39% said they wouldn’t vote for Mitt Romney, while 32% would never vote for John McCain and 31% for Rudy Giuliani. Among Republicans, 20% said they would never help Giuliani win the presidency, while 24% felt the same about McCain and 34% about Romney.
Men and women were equally split in their decision never to vote for Gingrich – 53% of both genders feel this way. More than half of men (51%) and 42% of women said they would never vote for Clinton, the Democratic candidate who generated the second-strongest “anti-vote” among each gender. Gore trailed closely behind, with 45% of men and 41% of women who said they would never vote for the former presidential candidate.
Among men, Giuliani received the least “anti-votes” (29%), followed by McCain (32%) and Obama (35%). Obama and Edwards received the fewest anti-votes among women (30%), while 32% of women said they would never vote for McCain.
So of the frontrunners from BOTH sides of the aisle Rudy G. has the LEAST vehement opposition to his candidacy.
Forget that noise that Rudy can’t win…it’s old ‘conventional wisdom’, and it’s wrong…
I’d just like to point out that, for a relative newcomer with low name recognition and who supposedly inspires Ghandi-like levels of devotion, Obama sure has a significant percentage of voters who say they’ll never support him (35%). The number is a bit higher than both Rudy and McCain, both of whhom have much higher name recognition and, therefore, more people who know enough about them to form a definate opinion.
That’s only for men, Sean — it looks like the overall average is about 32%.
But I don’t see Rudy’s “women numbers.” I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of women who dislike him over the way he broke up with his wife via press conference. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t like that either, but I don’t think it’s a good reason not to vote for someone.