Poll: Republicans "uninspired" by candidates; none viewed favorably by half of GOP voters

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Poll Finds G.O.P. Field Isn’t Touching Voters
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE
Published: December 11, 2007

Three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Republican voters across the country appear uninspired by their field of presidential candidates, with a vast majority saying they have not made a final decision about whom to support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Not one of the Republican candidates is viewed favorably by even half the Republican electorate, the poll found. And in a sign of the fluidity of the race, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who barely registered in early polls several months ago, is now locked in a tight contest nationally with Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

By contrast, Democrats are happier with their field and more settled in their decisions. For all the problems Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to be having holding off her rivals in Iowa and New Hampshire, she remains strong nationally, the poll found. Even after what her aides acknowledge have been two of the roughest months of her candidacy, she is viewed by Democrats as a far more electable presidential nominee than either Senator Barack Obama or John Edwards. Not only do substantially more Democratic voters judge her to be ready for the presidency than believe Mr. Obama is prepared for the job, the poll found, but more Democrats also see Mrs. Clinton rather than Mr. Obama as someone who can unite the country....

***

More than anything else, the poll underlines sharp differences between the Republican and Democratic electorate in how each views its candidates. Democratic voters, on the whole, see their candidates considerably more favorably than Republicans see theirs. Mrs. Clinton is viewed favorably by 68 percent of Democrats, followed by Mr. Obama, viewed favorably by 54 percent. Mr. Edwards is viewed favorably by 36 percent.

On the Republican side, in contrast, Mr. Giuliani is viewed favorably most frequently, and that is by only 41 percent. Senator John McCain is viewed favorably by 37 percent, and Mr. Romney by 36 percent. Mr. Huckabee is viewed favorably by 30 percent, and 60 percent say they do not know enough about him to offer an opinion, suggesting that he may be vulnerable to the kind of attacks that his opponents have already been mounting against him....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/us/politics/11poll.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'm uninspired by their candidates too. It's a bipartisan viewpoint.

[rasputin1952]

2. Since no D's are inspired by them either...

maybe they should all sit down and concede now...:D

As I've said before...this administration has destroyed the neo-con GOP for a generation...:woohoo:

Then again...Fred Thompson should lay down and just back to sleep...:D

[opihimoimoi]

5. Go Buckeyes.....the NeoCons and PNACers are both dead as doornails

[rasputin1952]

9. Hi Opi...Long time no see!

:pals:

[opihimoimoi]

10. Lucky dudes....get to go for da BIG ONE....LOL....got your tickets yet??

[rasputin1952]

11. We're talking Cornhuskers from UNL...

they just went through hell this season...dumped the Head Coach, crucified the players and everything else thye could....:eyes:

Buckeyes are out in OH.....and I wish I could get tix....beats the snow and cold here....:hi:

[fujiyama]

3. Well then again

That's because they're all fucking insane!

[Beacool]

4. Finally, something both parties can agree on!!!!

We all think that the Republican candidates are uninspiring!!!

[hayu_lol]

6. The Dems have traditionally fought tooth and nail...

over their personal candidates. We are again involved in the same sort of catfight.

But the Repugs...LOL...have far more problems than we have. The old-line Repug conservatives have little to choose from. The more their people open their mouths, the more trouble the real conservatives are having to fight down their distaste for who is claiming to represent them. That is not to say that they will vote for a Dem, but, in the end, many may choose not to vote at all.

No one can run for two years before a primary. It is too expensive for one thing, and no one can come up with new ear-catching buzzwords over that long a period of time. This extended campaign degrades over time into personal attacks. In this area, our people have run pretty clean campaigns.

We really need to think of a way to restrict the amount of time for campaigning prior to a primary. It has been suggested before but never got any traction.

This long campaign has forced candidates like Edwards, Obama and Dennis to come up with a list of promises that they--or anyone else--cannot get passed in a reasonable amount of time.

I believe Britain restricts the amount of time for campaigning. Just a few weeks.

[Beacool]

12. Yeah, the Length of this campaign is ridiculous!

Hillary joked in October that she could have had a baby in the time that she had been campaigning. This election pace is crazy and this rush to hold primaries so early in the year and so close together is only causing squabbles within the party (MI & FL for example) and stressing voters. I hope that in 4 years we have learned a lesson from the 2008 election and restrict the campaign time and space out the primaries.

[Enrique]

7. GOP voters uninspired by their candidates, compared to dems?

I wonder why?

[Beacool]

13. Nice bottom picture.

The 3 of them look good, it's a shame that at this point they probably can't stand each other. I heard the woman who moderated the debate in IA that Hillary couldn't make it do to weather and participated by phone, she had also attended the NPR radio debate and she said that there was a "chill in the air" between two candidates. When asked who, she responded Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama. Pity......

[Perry Logan]

8. It's heartbreaking to see them so depressed. I sure hope they don't start killing themselves.