# Could a "campaign reboot" win McCain back the independents?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-campaign-reboot-win-mccain-back-the-independents/467729>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 13, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-campaign-reboot-win-mccain-back-the-independents/467729 "2008-10-13T16:17:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-campaign-reboot-win-mccain-back-the-independents/467729/41 "2008-10-14T07:35:04Z")

</div>

[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general\_election\_mccain\_vs\_obama-225.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html)

Obama has led McCain in the polls for most of the past year. In the past 5 months, McCain has been ahead for only a brief period immediately following the Republican National Convention and the overhyped introduction of Sarah Palin. McCain’s numbers have been in a nosedive for a month and Obama’s have been climbing. Short of Osama bin Ladin being discovered in Obama’s guest cottage, I can’t really envision anything saving this for McCain.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-campaign-reboot-win-mccain-back-the-independents/467729/42 "2008-10-14T15:46:57Z")

</div>

> [@TWDuke](#):
>
> [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general\_election\_mccain\_vs\_obama-225.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html)

I really wish they’d include the option to apply a moving average to that data. I bet that if you smoothed it out a bit, you’d see that Obama was never behind McCain.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-campaign-reboot-win-mccain-back-the-independents/467729/43 "2008-10-14T15:59:17Z")

</div>

> [@fluiddruid](#):
>
> I don’t think the campaign can really change anything with a campaign “reboot” unless that reboot includes kicking Palin off the ticket (impossible). She’s proven to be a huge wedge as she represents the fundamentalist right that independents simply won’t support, and everyone is all too aware of McCain’s age and the higher likelihood that Palin would become a president. Barring some huge gaffe or giant discovery about Obama, I think that it’s pretty much in the bag at this point.

Wordy McWord. Before this all started I was voting Obama based on policy, but was OK with McCain. To think, I was actually happy with both choices for President! :eek: Then Sarah Palin howdy-yall’d out of the woodwork and it all changed. Thanks but no thanks, John. I’ve had enough of the shameless marriage between ignorance and confidence for the last eight years. I don’t need another go 'round.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-campaign-reboot-win-mccain-back-the-independents/467729.md?page=2)