Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
Based on what I have heard from people that voted, I would completely disagree with this assesment.
I know people that voted republican based solely on what they perceived as Obama's performance thus far. Punitive voting for sure, maybe not wise either, but it existed. No question.
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You have to be a bit careful when asking people "why" they voted a certain way. Most American voters always vote the same way, but in each election cycle would answer that question differently.
A democrat might easily have voted against Bob Dole in 1996 because he was "too old" and voted against George Bush in 2000 because he was "too inexperienced." The media then takes that and runs with it: "Voters repudiate Age" or "Voters insist on experience"--totally contradictory sentiments, and both based on people's honest self-assessment.
The problem is, that self-assessment is nonsense. The real reason those voters (by and large) didn't like either of those two candidates is because both are Republicans. To get an honest assessment of voter intention, that controls for the major confounding factor of party affiliation, you'd have to ask only independents, and only "true" independents at that--which in the US would be a ridiculously tiny sample.
As a matter of fact, I'm more Bullish about Obama's chances in 2012 today than I was yesterday; I'm off to school, so I can't go into why at the moment, but I'll try to explain it later today. Let's just say that below the line there are some troubling outcomes to-day if you're a Republican.