Democratic Identifiers Surging May 4, 2008
Posted by justingerman in 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, The Democratic Party.Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, Political Polls
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Those who think that the extended Democratic primary is hurting the party and the electoral chances of the eventual nominee only need look at the most recent Rasmussen party I.D. poll for a rebuke. According to the poll, 41 percent of respondents claimed to identify with the Democratic Party compared to only 31 percent who said they were Republicans. While the number of Republicans has remained somewhat constant over the last two years, Democratic identifiers have risen five percent since last year. This is the highest number of Democrats since Rasmussen began tracking party I.D. six years ago.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about how competitive primaries, sometimes even if they involve incumbents, are almost always healthy for the party. While I said that the primary will help Obama because Clinton is exposing him to the Republican attacks he will be subject to later, the extended primary is also clearly a positive because it is exposing so many more people to, and making them feel like they are part of the process.
It’s hard to see the Democratic nominee losing in November with these types of identification numbers. I would also go as far to say that the number of Democrats is even higher than the national average in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, despite how close the presidential poll numbers are in those states right now. Additionally, Democratic challengers at both the Senate and House level are probably loving these numbers.
Barack Obama and Party Building March 11, 2008
Posted by justingerman in 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Why You are wrong about Obama.Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Presidential Primaries
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I’ve done several of these Obama defense articles lately, but I just have to point out this one more argument that I think shows a basic fundamental difference in Hillary and Obama supporters concerning their perspective and vision for the future of the Democratic party.
This blogger, Anonymous Is a Woman, who was formerly an Obama supporter, finds fault in his campaign’s attempt to recruit independents and Republicans to vote for Obama in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania being especially problematic for the Obama campaign because it is a closed primary and Independents and Republicans must change their affiliation to Democrat in order to vote. What she finds particularly egregious is the particular language of the mailer that said, “They can always change back their affiliation after the election.” Though I’ll admit that such a statement is poorly articulated, it doesn’t reflect the sentiment of the campaign nor has any divisive intent.
Democratic Partiy ID At 41% March 3, 2008
Posted by justingerman in 2008 Election, 2008 Presidential Election, The Democratic Party.Tags: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rasmussen
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Rasmussen Reports has a new poll out this morning that shows Democratic Party identification at 41.5% compared to only 31.8 percent who see themselves as Republicans. The Democratic advantage of 9.7% is by far the largest ever recorded, the second highest being 6.9% in December of 2006. It is also up from a 5.6 point advantage last month and 2.1% two months ago.
The Rasmussen commentary wisely points out that this increase is likely due to a shift in the public image of the Democratic Party from being directed at congress to the presidential candidates. Though McCain is currently leading both Obama and Clinton in the Daily Tracking Poll, I think, at this, point party I.D. is a much better indicator of the depth of support for the presidential candidates as well as the 2008 congressional elections.
Where Has This Been? February 28, 2008
Posted by justingerman in 2008 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton.Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, NAFTA, Ohio Primary, Presidential Primaries
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I must say that this is undoubtedly the best I have seen Hillary Clinton the entire campaign. By ‘best’ I don’t mean the fact that she is attacking Obama for doing the exact same thing her campaign has done to him time and again. What I do mean is the fact that she is expressing authentic and passionate anger about something she views to be wrong.
Republicans such as George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzalez, Donald Rumsfeld, anyone in the Republican presidential election, or international figures like Osama Bin Laden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jung Ill, the Janjawid or even the Chinese government would have been much better targets than Barack Obama. Directing this same kind of anger toward the actors would have enabled her to wrap up the nomination weeks ago. Of course she couldn’t have done this every day or every week, but to show this kind of aggressive emotion at the most opportune times would have showed that she cared deeply about making things different. Democrats right now don’t want the Stepford Wives candidate, they want someone who is visibly passionate about bringing change. (more…)
