“Party unity” still a problem for Obama
Apparently the Democratic party’s “unification” process is not yet complete. This YouTube video was added yesterday:
Also, check out the comments. There’s still a lot of anger simmering among ardent Hillary supporters, and a surprising number of them are still refusing to back Obama. (Note: this video is not an isolated case; see stories like this.)
A CNN poll taken earlier this month showed that only 54 percent of Clinton supporters said they planned on voting for Obama (down from 60 percent in June). But more ominously, 33 percent said they will stay home on November 4th (up from 22 percent in June).
Those numbers could simply be explained by lingering reluctance by Clinton backers to switch their support to Obama, a candidate they had so long opposed during the bitter primary battle. It’s entirely possible that by November, those feelings will have faded and Clinton supporters will overwhelmingly cast their votes for Obama.
In any case, it’s clear that despite his efforts thus far, Obama still has plenty of work to do on the “unity” front.
**UPDATE: Obama, of course, still enjoys a narrow but consistent lead over McCain in most nationwide polls. Two relevant polls from Rasmussen this week are worthy of note:
1) A poll today found that 30 percent of conservative Democrats plan on voting for McCain. 78 percent of Democrats overall plan on voting for Obama. The Rasmussen story notes that while Obama may be losing some Democratic voters, he starts out with an advantage due to the fact that far more people identify themselves as Democrats this year than Republicans.
2) In addition, a poll from Rasmussen yesterday found that twice as many voters are “uncommitted” this year (14 percent) as they were at the same time in 2004. Interestingly, far more of those uncommitted voters were Democrats:
But, while much has been made of John McCain’s struggles with his party’s conservative base, 33% of the uncommitted voters are Democrats while only 19% are Republicans. Forty-eight percent (48%) are not affiliated with either major political party.
Even more surprisingly, more of those “uncommitted” voters seem to be leaning towards McCain:
This year, 37% of the uncommitted voters plan to vote for a Democratic Congressional candidate while 22% say they’ll vote for the GOP. But, when asked which way they’re leaning in the race for the White House, 26% say McCain and 19% say Obama. Twenty percent (20%) say they still prefer a third-party candidate.
Uncommitted Republicans are far more likely to lean towards McCain than uncommitted Democrats are to lean towards Obama.
Underwritten by the RNC no doubt.