Surprise Kerry Supporters!

[goclark]

I have been pleasantly shocked in the last few weeks. I keep meeting people that I wouldn't ever guess are voting for Kerry.

Example, I was in a bookstore in Ohio and the cashier was African American. I was buying a copy of the Richard Clarke book. The cashier said,"I am a Republican but I can't stand Bush! I will not be voting for him! He is a horror story!"

Example... I was in a restaurant and the television was on. A waiter looked at Rumsfield on the screen and said," I hate him! How could he not have known about these pictures?!"

I believe that people HATE this administration with a passion and they don't even care where they are and who they say it to,they are mad as hell and they ain't gonna take it anymore!

These close polls IMO are lies!

How many examples of " Surprise Votes For Kerry " have you witnessed lately?

:think:

[apnu]

1. I've got one

My father-in-law is a die-hard NY Rockefeller Republican. He's always toe'd the line with the 'pugs. But with the talk about the draft changes he's leaning hard to Kerry.

He's the father of 4 girls, all of whom would be effected by it, and his two son-in-laws (I'm one of course). He feels that his entire family is now under the draft gun and he's pissed. He finally feels that the war is wrong, and he's doing everything he can to keep me, my wife and my in-laws out of Irag!

Wh0Ot!

[heidiho]

2. It's more anti-Bush than pro-Kerry

I wish Kerry could appeal to those who can't stand Bush - either Dem or Republican.

Hope that happens before November. I'd like Kerry to win because he's the better candidate, not by default (but I'll take it!)

[NMDemDist2]

3. I got a "shuttle ride" from my car dealership

the driver was retired AF NCO and worked for Boeing another 20 years. He says Bush is toast and this was before the April casualties and the POW photos. He said he was a Republican all his life, but the neocons "hijacked" his party and he was voting against Bush and most of his old veteran buddies felt the same way

[kentuck]

7. That is a strong anti-Bush statement that should be used more often..

..."He said he was a Republican all his life, but the neocons "hijacked" his party and he was voting against Bush..."

[robbedvoter]

4. They'd better! Blacks in Florida who didn't bother voting in 2002

(I agree they had a LOUSY choice in the general elections) are now purged from the rolls. A life lesson.

[radwriter0555]

5. Why are you surprised? Kerry is a GOOD man who WILL help the USA recover

from the atrocities of the bush regime.

We need to voice our total support for Kerry loudly and often to help turn the tide.

Otherwise, the rovian lie machine wins.

[jobycom]

6. It's turning against Bush

People can dislike Bush but still vote for him, if they don't trust Kerry more. But it's a bad sign for Bush.

It takes a while for supporters to turn against someone. A lot of people voted for Bush, and have supported him all along, but in the last couple of months are starting to doubt him. They may still say they will vote for Bush when asked in a poll, but they are doubting.

Also, people don't move from one candidate to the other at once. Usually they move to the undecided category, then to the other candidate. Undecideds usually vote against the incumbent.

If you notice these polls, they aren't really counting undecideds. If asked if they are a likely voter, people who are in that transition will say "I'm not sure I'm going to vote." So they don't get included in the results. These polls also don't publish their non-participation rates. A Bush supporter who is turning against him will be more likely to decline to be polled than a person who is an avid supporter of Bush.

So I agree, the polls aren't capturing the true feelings against Bush, because they are only polling people who have made up their minds. Bush is slipping badly in approval polls, though, and that's really bad for an incumbent. Incumbents are a known quantity. People's opinions of them aren't likely to change quickly. People who are starting to doubt Bush are going to be hard to win back. The challenger, on the other hand, has only to prove that he can do the job to gain their support. They won't be as critical of him as they are to the candidate they know has already failed.

This same pattern happened with Carter v Reagan and Clinton v Bush. The polls showed a close race until near the end, but most people felt that the results would not be close. And they weren't. Bush is unpopular right now, and falling. He has to halt his slide, then convince people who have already left him to change their opinions. And that's hard to do, since people now feel they know him.

Bush is in a lot of trouble. Watch for a big surprise, because he has few other options.

[chaska]

9. great post, joby.

[Don_G]

8. I Overheard 2 Women Talking

When I went outside for a smoke during a Kentucky Derby event.

Both agreed that we shouldn't have started Iraq, shouldn't be there now, the Patriot Act is being used to suppress the truth, Dimbo is a stupid lying f**k and the Bush Cabal is bleeding the country dry to stuff their offshore bank accounts.

I savored every minute of it.