Latest Pew Polling (read the entire article for other good info):
[i]For his part, McCain runs better in the general election tests against both Democratic candidates among college graduates and white men. More generally, the current poll finds that McCain’s competitiveness against both Democrats is buttressed by the fact that voters continue to see him as a centrist whose views are fairly close to their own, and less conservative than George W. Bush’s. In contrast, voters place both Clinton and Obama considerably to the left of where they place themselves. These ideological perceptions of the candidates have changed little over the past three months.
While McCain is seen as more centrist than the Democratic candidates, he does not inspire as much confidence as either of them does to handle the issue voters would most like to see the candidates address: the economy. By wide margins, voters choose either Obama or Clinton as better able than McCain to improve economic conditions.
Yet voters have much more confidence in McCain than either Democrat to defend the country against future terrorist attacks. McCain’s advantage over Obama is particularly large. By 63% to 26%, more voters say McCain rather than Obama would do a better job of handling terrorism, which is a far greater margin than Bush ever enjoyed over John Kerry on this issue. [/i]
Not surprising. Obama has been successfully (and not completely inaccurately) tarred as a radical. Is McCain a centrist? I’m not even sure what that means anymore. Is he essentially an establishment candidate that the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal would not have a problem with? Yup.
Centrist republicans are the worst of all. They adopt the leftist philosophy and apply it to a different set of issues. Worse, when the failures of the centrists philosophy become apparent, the masses blame conservativism.
Back in 2000 I knew many people who wanted to see McCain on the ticket because they saw him as a middle ground between Kerry and Bush. I think he has a chance to do well is he maintains that position (sub Clinton/Obama for Kerry). Of course, this means he has to stop sucking up to a certain aspect of the Republican party. After he receives the official party nomination, he can.
[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
[i]For his part, McCain runs better in the general election tests against both Democratic candidates among college graduates and white men. More generally, the current poll finds that McCain’s competitiveness against both Democrats is buttressed by the fact that voters continue to see him as a centrist whose views are fairly close to their own, and less conservative than George W. Bush’s. In contrast, voters place both Clinton and Obama considerably to the left of where they place themselves. These ideological perceptions of the candidates have changed little over the past three months.
While McCain is seen as more centrist than the Democratic candidates, he does not inspire as much confidence as either of them does to handle the issue voters would most like to see the candidates address: the economy. By wide margins, voters choose either Obama or Clinton as better able than McCain to improve economic conditions.[/i]
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I have a theory to explain this. It begins with the premise that the average American is not very intelligent.
According to the poll the average American considers themselves more conservative than liberal. This is easily explained. Conservatism and the Republican party has long been associated with lower taxes, and people like lower taxes, therefore they like conservatism and want to associate with it.
However, Americans still want all of the government handouts associated with the Democratic party. They fail to understand the problems that are caused by the handouts, and want to solve the problems with more. This is the reason why the majority believes that Obama or Hillary will be better equipped to handle the economy. They fail to recognize how the economy works, and how conservatism, capitalism, and a free market guided by Adam Smith will keep the economy growing much better than government controls.
What does it matter where he falls on a political spectrum?
He’s a Bush parrot. He’s more of the same thing we’ve had for the last 8 years. He doesn’t stand a chance just for the fact he carries an ‘R’ after his name.
I can easily list you 20 wars started by the US since WWII alone.
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Really…you can name 20 wars started by the US since WWII.
Go for it, I’d like to see what nonsense you come up with. I’m by no means saying the US is Polly Peacemaker but it seems Islam has been waging war on “the infidel” since it’s inception.