I have so little hope for today's election that premature polls about (God help us) 2016 seem like a welcome break. Here's one from ABC and The Washington Post that doesn't look so great for the GOP:
Looking beyond today's midterms to the big event in 2016, half of registered voters in an ABC News/Washington Post poll say Hillary Clinton would make a good president, far more than say the same about some of her potential Republican rivals.The numbers are here (PDF) -- and while Hillary's negatives are pretty high, the Republicans' negative numbers are awful relative to their positive numbers:
... Fifty-two percent think Jeb Bush would not make a good president, as do 49 percent when it comes to Rick Perry, 48 percent for Chris Christie and 45 percent for Rand Paul.
Far fewer, ranging from 20 to 26 percent, think any of them would make a good president, leaving anywhere from 21 to 31 percent with no opinion....
What IO find fascinating is that at least 30% of Republicans think each of these guys would make a bad president:
What's going on here? Are Republican voters now such purity Nazis that no one can live up to their exalted expectations? Did the poll choose too many established figures, with GOP voters responding like 1990s indie-rock purists being asked to weigh in on Third Eye Blind and Stone Temple Pilots? Would they be kinder if you asked them to opine on someone who's not a sellout, maaaaaan!!? Ben Carson? Ted Cruz? Joni Ernst? Elbert Guillory? Or are they just saving themselves for the miraculously undecayed corpse of Saint Ronald Reagan?
I hope Republican voters remain this fussy well into the 2016 campaign. Please, guys -- force your eventual nominee to make ever-greater shows of right-wing purity. We're looking forward to it.
Zombie Reagan would never survive a primary in today's GOP.
ReplyDeleteI do not see how the GOP moves forward without fracturing. I think a fairly significant rightwing 3rd party candidate in 16 should be considered a given -- a center-right, NoLabelite candidate seems likely, too. It might be a very interesting year in which is it very unlikely that anyone will get over 50% of the pop vote. I wish we had a dependable liberal who could take advantage of the chaos that just seems, to me, inevitable on the right.
ReplyDeleteZombie Reagan wouldn't be pure and rabid enough anymore.
ReplyDeleteThey'd tear him limb from limb in the primaries - which, to be honest, at this point, won't take a lot of energy.