These republican primaries are having low voter turnout.

[mucifer]

Gee I somehow don't remember low voter turnout primaries between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in '08.

Something to make us feel a little better about til the hundreds of dollars worth of ads come crashing in on us.

[Mr.Turnip]

1. Well even I were a right-wing crazy id have a hard time mustering excitment about the clowns offered

So are you really surprised?

[Vincardog]

2. The difference was Democrats Wanted to vote for those two. The GOP is only voting against

people.

[surrealAmerican]

4. ... and, of course, there are more Democrats ...

... than there are Republicans.

[JoePhilly]

3. And low voter IQ as well.

[Stan Smith]

5. This is a good sign!

The gop is going down in November. Right wing heads are going to explode all over the country when President Obama wins a second term.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. What has struck me - very few yard signs & bumper stickers

..even in Iowa back at the beginning of the year.

The most requently seen yard signs and bumper stickers -- Ron Paul

I finally saw my first Santorum yard sign about a week ago.

No Romney signs or bumper stickers.

I saw a couple of Newt bumper stickers in Iowa

I actually still see stickers for Sarah Palin.

I've seen more stickers for the GOP Senate candidates, and that's not saying much.

I do see Obama stickers -- not many, but franky I've seen more Obama 2012 stickers than for any GOP candidate except Ron Paul.

I did see the Campaign RV for John Davis in Burwell, NE. http://www.johndavisforpresident.org/

[Lugnut]

7. I've seen lawn signs for a state house candidate and Ron Paul.

And that's it. There doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm going on out there.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. That could just be the campaign not wanting to waste money on stickers and yard signs

In a race that's on the top of the ballot, yard signs and stickers do very little other than create an appearance of support that may or may not actually exist. Hence, you see so many Ron Paul signs yet it's not paying off at the polls.

Yard signs and bumper stickers are more effective in down ballot races. Some people will show up to vote for President, Governor, or Senator and may not have given much if any thought to who they will vote for city council or state legislature. They may not even know it's on the ballot. In that instance they will often pick a candidate who's name they remember simply from a yard sign or bumper sticker.

[sakabatou]

8. I think they know they're gonna lose

[socialist_n_TN]

9. I'm not going to read too much into low turnout.........

In '08 I had absolutely NO preference between Obama and Clinton, and as such, didn't vote in the primary at all. Nor did I support either candidate over the other. I knew I was voting against Bush and if Satan had been the Dem nominee, he would have gotten my vote. I think that a LOT of Republicans aren't voting in the primaries because they don't care who winds up with the nomination. They'll vote for him anyway against Obama.

[OmahaBlueDog]

11. I agree not to read to much into the low turnout

I disagree, a little, on "they don't care who winds up with the nomination."

I think most conservatives believe that Romney isn't a big improvement on Obama, but will vote for him on the basis of the likelihood he a) won't repeal the Bush tax cuts and b) will continue to stack the SCOTUS with conservative jurists. Given the likelihood that Bader-Ginsburg will step down in the next Presidential term, this is no small thing.

Having said all of that........

It's an open question whether evangelicals -- especially in the South -- will do much for a member of LDS with a mixed record on abortion. Will they turn out to vote? Probably. Will they do the other things, like phone banking and leafleting, to GOTV? I'm guessing they'll choose to focus on downline elections. Most independents I know aren't particularly enthralled with Obama, but they aren't becoming enthusiastic Romney supporters. There is disgust with both parties right now among independents. I'm betting many simply stay home.

[onenote]

12. actually turnout for the repubs has rebounded and is up overall

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/republican-primary-turnout-rebounds-is-up-overall/2012/03/23/gIQAOeCNWS_blog.html

[mucifer]

13. Why does the washington post say turnout was up up in IL when all the local press here says it was

down? Weird.

[onenote]

14. I think its because the local reporting is not specific to the repub primary

The overall turnout on primary day in Illinois was down compared to 2008 because the Democratic primary was not a contested primary.

However, if you focus only on the repub side, the turnout was up. According to the state's website, just under 900,000 votes were cast in the 2008 repub primary in Illinois.

http://elections.il.gov/electioninformation/VoteTotalsList.aspx?ElectionType=GP&ElectionID=21&SearchType=OfficeSearch&OfficeID=4265&QueryType=Office&

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Republican_primary,_2008

Around 929,000 votes were cast in the Illinois repub primary in 2012.

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/states/illinois