"I'll Vote McCain!" = TIME Magazine says You're Bluffing w/ Evidence

[quantass]

I found this Time Magazine article interesting with respect to all those who have proclaimed they would vote McCain or not at all if there candidate is not nominated:

It is true that between 25 and 45 percent of Democrats who voted for Clinton have told pollsters that they would vote for John McCain in the fall rather than Obama, but is that threat credible?

There is considerable evidence that some of those voters are letting their emotions do the talking—and following in a long tradition by doing so. According to ABC News' polling unit, in the spring 1992, only 63% of Democrats who voted for someone other than Bill Clinton in the primaries that year said they would vote for Clinton over George H. W. Bush that fall. In 1996, 66% of Republicans who voted for someone other than Bob Dole in the GOP primary said they would support Dole against Clinton that fall. Al Gore suffered the same apparent dropout problem; only 64% of Democrats who voted for his rivals during the primary said they would be there for Gore in the fall.

The full article: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1811112,00.html?cnn=yes

[QueenOfCalifornia]

1. That is because

it is what good Republican's do.

Vote the party line.

[Bill McBlueState]

2. I suspected as much

Every election until this one, I've been the same way. My candidate gets eliminated in the primary, I hate the nominee, but by November I come around and decide we'll be better off with a Democrat than a Republican.

(I'm actually really happy that for once, the candidate I voted for in the primary is on track for the nomination.)

[Occam Bandage]

3. Well, duh. Every year people get upset their candidate lost in the primaries and throw a fit.

Every year they get over it. The only reason it's getting any attention at all is the racialized/sexualized campaign.

[gateley]

4. I didn't like Obama while my candidate was (briefly) in the race.

And it took me a while to start paying attention to either him or Hillary.

But once I started looking at Obama from the perspective that he might very well become our nominee -- as opposed knee-jerk comparing him to my candidate -- I began to REALLY like him. Maybe that same process will hold true with Hillary's supporters. When he's not "the enemy" any more, but rather the Dem nominee who will go against McCain to save so many things that are sacred to us.

[butterfly77]

5. The problem is ...

they are so invested in her being the candidate that they aren't thinking rationally and they haven't even took the time to listen to him very carefully and what he is saying.

Now some people just have a block in their mind everytime they see his color, they won't listen to him as a man. I think some are forgetting that he is also caucasian and can relate to them as well as everyone else.

[gateley]

6. And that's how I felt about Biden -

I was so convinced that he was the best for the job, that any statement any of the other candidates made (except for "Joe's right" :7) I only viewed in the light of how it could be used to PROVE they were wrong and Biden was right.

I'm not expressing myself too clearly.

But maybe once they get out of that mode, then they, too, will be open to seeing what Obama can bring to the office.

For those who are unwilling to vote for him just because he's black, it doesn't matter that his mom was caucasian.

[quantass]

7. I second that.