Gallup Poll: Many Democrats Ready to Vote McCain if Their First Choice Doesn’t Make It to November
Many Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama supporters are ready to spurn the Democratic party and vote for John McCain in November if their candidate doesn’t win the presidential nomination, according to a new poll out Wednesday.
And a second poll out Wednesday shows most voters — including 85 percent of Democrats — believe there’s a chance that the battle between Clinton and Obama will not be resolved before the August convention.
Among people who identified themselves as Hillary Clinton supporters, 28 percent said they would vote for McCain if Obama is his opponent, the March 7-22 Gallup Poll Daily election tracking survey found.
The same poll found that 19 percent of Obama supporters would switch sides and cast ballots for McCain if Clinton is the Democratic candidate.
The survey interviewed 6,657 Democratic voters nationwide and had a margin of error of 2 percent.
Click here to read the Gallup Poll discussion of the survey.
Gallup analysts note that the results could change by November, by which time Democrats will have made great efforts to unify the party.
Gallup analysts also noted that voters tend to threaten party desertion but don’t necessarily do so. A recent Gallup survey found that 11 percent of Republican voters said they would vote for a different party or not at all if McCain doesn’t pick a running mate who is more conservative than he is.
Historically, the party-switch factor has shown to be less dramatic, Gallup analysts said. Less than 10 percent of Republicans and Democrats crossed party lines in pre-election Gallup polls from 1992 to 2004.
In the second poll, Rasmussen Reports found that 87 percent of all voters — and 85 percent of Democrats — believe it is “somewhat likely” that both Clinton and Obama will remain in the race until the convention. Fifty-two percent of Democrats said it is “very likely” the nomination won’t be decided until the convention.
The Rasmussen poll (March 24-25, 800 likely voters, +/- 4 percentage points) also found that there’s equal dislike on either side of the Democratic race for the rival candidate: 22 percent of both Clinton and Obama supporters said they believe the other candidate should drop out of the race.
Hillary Clinton will never get my vote. If Obama does not win the nomination I will vote for McCain.
I am an Obama supporter and while I don’t feel as though republicans deserve to be in the White House again right now, I don’t know if I have it in me to vote Hillary. She just has way too much to hide and needs to be called out on all of this alleged experience that she supposedly has.
McCain is the choice, I have no plans to convert to Islam
Its very difficult why anyone would support either of these two socialist for president. Obama has no experience, 20 years of vile hate filled teaching under an anti-American mentor, talks about what a ” typical white person is” The press would have a field day if McCain said what a “typical black person is” He is not a uniter. Hillary is just plain dishonest and power hungery. They both support the murder of full term babies by partial birth abortion, and would place liberal judges on the surpreme court that would rule by international law not the constitution. Either them would be a disaster. McCain is not my choice, but the lesser of 3 evils..
i am one of those voters. if clinton doesnt make it i will vote mccain.
you can call it a protest vote.
As an Obama supporter how stupid are DEMS to be this petty? Clinton and Obama are largely the same candidate when it comes to policy, so why would you allow the conservatives another shot at destroying our country? As much as I dislike Clinton, she still is a much better candidate than McCain.
As a New York female I have lost all respect for Hillary Clinton. Especially after she wanted to
give illegals a drivers license. I think Obama would do a good job. I would vote republican rather than vote for Hillary.
The trust factor of both candidates is zero.
It’s no surprise that Dems would support McCain. Except on a couple of issues, there is NO DIFFERENCE between McCain and the Democratic party ideas. He has gone over to their side enough — time to repay the allegiance. Needless to say, I will not be voting for any of those 3. I hear Judge Roy Moore might be the Constitution Party nominee….we’ll see.
I would never vote for either Hillary or Obama! But if I had to Choose between the two I say it’s better to go with the Devil you know then the Devil you don’t. I get the impression that there is a lot Obama doesn’t want us to know about him.
I just hope McCain doesn’t get too overconfident!