31 percent of North Carolina voters would be less likely to support Hillary if Edwards endorsed her

[ecstatic]

...an Edwards endorsement would actually hurt Hillary’s chances to win the state. A jarring 31 percent of North Carolina voters would be less likely to support Hillary if Edwards endorsed her. About one-third as many people (12 percent) say they would be more likely to vote for her after an Edwards endorsement. The poll didn't provide any numbers speculating what an Edwards endorsement would mean for Barack Obama.

These are really stunning numbers for a reasonably liked, homegrown senator who had a legitimate shot at becoming president. According to this poll, nearly one-third of North Carolina Democrats and unaffiliated voters dislike Edwards so much that he would taint Clinton’s candidacy. Barely one-tenth of voters like him enough to have it positively affect their opinion.

The cynic would suggest that Obama voters sabotaged the question by saying an endorsement would hurt Clinton, but the numbers don’t completely follow that logic. After crunching some cross-tabs, we discovered that 35 percent of those Clinton-Edwards sourpusses are currently Clinton supporters. We’ll reiterate: Edwards is so toxic that one-third of Hillary’s Carolinian base would think twice before voting for her. No wonder he and Kerry didn’t win North Carolina in 2004.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/03/25/the-kiss-of-death.aspx

:wow:

[grantcart]

1. can someone from NC explain this?

[RDANGELO]

7. Right wing radio here in the triangle has continuously

pummeled him. They criticized him for supposedly ignoring the state while he was running for president. They have gone to great lengths to portray him as a phony.

[NJSecularist]

11. You mean he isn't a phony? n/t

[polichick]

2. What am I missing? What do they have against Edwards???

[Kittycat]

3. Not surprising from what I've read.

Many NCers on the boards have said that Edwards isn't all that liked there, and his endorsement wouldn't help - but could hurt.

[Devlzown]

8. I know a couple of peop[le from North Carolina

and they've both told me that Edwards isn't very popular there -- I don't know why. But this is a state that put Jesse Helms in the Senate for many years, so I think that NC is just a conservative state that merely acts like a swing state sometimes.

[flor de jasmim]

4. Did they poll only Democrats?

[ecstatic]

5. MSNBC channel is planning to address the story today

So maybe they'll have more info.

[Yael]

6. This is the most bizarre thing I have aread all day.

[democrattotheend]

9. That's probably not very reliable

Because it's probably the people who already support Obama who say this.

[BeyondGeography]

10. This has always been a major problem for me with Edwards

If he could bring North Carolina along with him in the General, I could overlook a lot of the other issues, but every NC poll shows his home state is pretty much indifferent to him (plus the real-world results of 2004; and I know he wasn't on the top of the ticket but losing by 13 or 14 points in his home state was a disgrace anyway.)

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

12. I wonder if this isn't part of the reason he hasn't endorsed?

Is he waiting until after North Carolina votes, so he doesn't spoil the vote for his endorsee?