Was there a Zell Miller effect in 2004?

[phk]

Was there a Zell Miller effect in 2004?

[Stranger in a strange land]

Do you mean conservative Democrats voting Bush because of disgust with Kerry and the general feeling that the Democratic party was out of touch? Yes.

Did Zell Miller himself have much to do with this? I'm not sure. Probably not. That election was more about cultural issues than any other in recent memory, so I doubt he himself had that much impact compared to much broader trends.

[phk]

Do you mean conservative Democrats voting Bush because of disgust with Kerry and the general feeling that the Democratic party was out of touch? Yes.

Yeah. More getting along the lines of people who would have supported people like Carter, Clinton.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I don't think Zell had any effect, but conservative Democrats did go more to Bush than they had for any Republican since Reagan.  It was more to do Kerry v. Bush than anything else, though.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Do you mean conservative Democrats voting Bush because of disgust with Kerry and the general feeling that the Democratic party was out of touch? Yes.

Yeah. More getting along the lines of people who would have supported people like Carter, Clinton.

yes, but it was because they connected with Bush's cowboy persona and not with Kerry's New England Aristocrat persona, and because many voted on social issues in this election. It didn't help that Kerry came from the one state that had legalized gay marriage.

[Sensei]

Did Zell Miller affect anything? no

Is Zell Miller indicative of a type of voter in '04? yes

[phk]

Do you mean conservative Democrats voting Bush because of disgust with Kerry and the general feeling that the Democratic party was out of touch? Yes.

Yeah. More getting along the lines of people who would have supported people like Carter, Clinton.

yes, but it was because they connected with Bush's cowboy persona and not with Kerry's New England Aristocrat persona, and because many voted on social issues in this election. It didn't help that Kerry came from the one state that had legalized gay marriage.

Do you think he was a reason why Hispanics in GA went for Bush (as per CNN exit polls)?

[HardRCafé]

I guarantee you there was in Georgia.

I cannot actually guarantee it anywhere else.

[phk]

I guarantee you there was in Georgia.

I cannot actually guarantee it anywhere else.

WV?

[Stranger in a strange land]

Do you mean conservative Democrats voting Bush because of disgust with Kerry and the general feeling that the Democratic party was out of touch? Yes.

Yeah. More getting along the lines of people who would have supported people like Carter, Clinton.

yes, but it was because they connected with Bush's cowboy persona and not with Kerry's New England Aristocrat persona, and because many voted on social issues in this election. It didn't help that Kerry came from the one state that had legalized gay marriage.

Do you think he was a reason why Hispanics in GA went for Bush (as per CNN exit polls)?

It could be, but I have a feeling that that result was an error caused by a small sample size. Still, Bush did better among Hispanics in GA than elsewhere. I'm too lazy to look it up (and honestly I don't even know where to find this information), but I would suspect that many GA Hispanics are evangelical, so yes, social issues were probably a big part of it.

[J. J.]

Do you mean conservative Democrats voting Bush because of disgust with Kerry and the general feeling that the Democratic party was out of touch? Yes.

Did Zell Miller himself have much to do with this? I'm not sure. Probably not. That election was more about cultural issues than any other in recent memory, so I doubt he himself had that much impact compared to much broader trends.

I think there was another major factor, security.  Miller played into that.

[Person Man]

Yeah. The war still had a strong constituency back then. "Supporting a war president" was a big thing. I stopped supporting the war when the entire Abu Ghraib thing came out.