KY: Rasmussen: McCain +25 over Obama, Clinton +9 over McCain

[NOVA Green]

All this tells me is that many KY 'Democrats' are either a spiteful bunch, at best, or a racist bunch, at worst

I'm not a big fan of the "Obama lost KY because of race analysis".... even if you look at the exit polls and say that 20% of KY voters thought race was a major factor (although there are still multiple ways to interpret that), Hillary still would have won by a significant margin.

I think there is more to this "anti-elitist" theory of KY voters. How Hillary was able to position herself as such is a fascinating question, although I think there are some other threads that have debated this more extensively.

I'm still not sure how accurate this poll is though, it does seem like a potential outlier compared to other recent KY matchup polls. If true, this does indicate major softness amongst McCain's supporters in this region as the dynamics of the race change and the Dems consolidate their base.

[NOVA Green]

All this tells me is that many KY 'Democrats' are either a spiteful bunch, at best, or a racist bunch, at worst

I'm not a big fan of the "Obama lost KY because of race analysis".... even if you look at the exit polls and say that 20% of KY voters thought race was a major factor (although there are still multiple ways to interpret that), Hillary still would have won by a significant margin.

Here is my understanding of what has been happening (from another thread):

Much of the problem Obama has had with working class Democrats, especially in Appalachia, is that they aren't so much 'visionary' in their political view-point, they could be said to be of a more 'substantialist' view-point and, IMO, good a campaign Obama has waged this primary cycle, these voters need to see more policy substance from Obama. They need to be sure that Obama is every bit as much for their interests as Clinton, who face it is no more culturally populist then he is

Bottom-line is that they trust Clinton more on the economy and quality of life issues, like healthcare; while Iraq may not be of such primary importance to these voters; and this may well explain why Obama has been unable to build on the breakthrough he achieved among Clinton's base in Wisconsin

Just because race was not a factor in the Democratic primary, it's plausible that base spite and prejudice could be working against Obama in the general

Polls suggest that Obama's base would be more solidly for Clinton as the nominee than hers would be for Obama, which is disgusting when you consider only Obama has a fair path to the nomination. That's the point I'm making

Dave

So you seriously consider it "disgusting" that voters do not support your preferred candidate? I would consider that a pretty undemocratic and condescending view. One of the points of democracy is that people can decide for themselves who to vote for, without other people telling them they're disgusting for doing it.

No...whats disgusting is not supporting a candidate because they beat their candidate fair and square in the nomination process so they'd rather defect to a candidate that shares little to no opinions and views at all with them just because they are sore losers. Seriously? Just hand the republicans the election in November....lets not even vote.

But just because tensions are running high between the two Democratic camps does not in and of itself mean that many of these voters won't end up voting for Obama anyways. I agree that the percentage that say that they won't vote or will vote for McCain is a serious problem for Obama, however come November this may well change.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, many KY Dems are DINO voters and Kerry faced major problems in this state as well because he was seen as too culturally different. I do not see Obama as necessarily doing much worse than Kerry in the general election in KY.

The question is more is this poll a total outlier, or does McCain also suffer serious weaknesses in his image amongst voters in the Appalachian regions? Has Hillary's recent representation of herself as the champion of white working class voters moved the numbers this dramatically, or is it a statistical anomaly?