Intellectual Property Law

Report: 17 Percent of Clinton Supporters Would Vote McCain

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

Threat Level has logged almost 1,000 comments from readers on the subject of whether disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters are really going to vote for John McCain. Some readers question whether these voters were ever really Democrats in the first place.

A new poll from CNN/Opinion Research Corp. now quantifies the percentage of Clintonites who might actually switch party allegiances.

CNN reported Monday that if Barack Obama doesn't choose Clinton for vice president, 22 percent of the New York senator's supporters would stay home this fall -- and another 17 percent would vote for McCain.

Meanwhile, CBS News last Wednesday found that McCain currently leads Obama by eight percentage points among independent voters -- an important factoid, given that the number of voters who have registered as independent has risen to historically high levels this election cycle.

That's why this relatively new section of McCain's web site, Citizens for McCain, with a note from Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., mentioned in this Saturday CNN segment is noteworthy. (The segment also features a response from Obama on what he has to offer to Clinton's supporters, as well as a nice tip of the hat to THREAT LEVELon our Thursday story on the Republican National Committee's registration of ClintonsforMccain.com.)

As for those CNN poll numbers, don't expect them to stay the same through November. As the late psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has documented through her work -- there are five stages of grief over severe losses --denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Perhaps in coming months, Clinton's almost 18 million supporters will be ready to accept her call on Saturday to "do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States."

See Also:

• Angry Clinton Supporters Start Rallying for McCain Online
• In Appeal to Angry Clinton Voters, Republicans Prep ...

Full post as published by Threat Level on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).