# Hillary Clinton supporters switching to McCain/Palin -- why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 19, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335 "2008-09-19T17:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/1 "2008-09-19T17:18:45Z")
Followup to [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=483911) As reported in [_Newsweek:_](http://www.newsweek.com/id/158893/page/4) > [@](#): > > Many women have rightly argued that it is insulting to assume they would simply switch votes from one woman to another just because she is a woman, despite what her policies or experience might be. The Obama campaign acknowledges that, overall, there has been a recent shift in the female vote toward McCain. But they believe it is a modest movement among middle-aged women voters, with kids, who live in suburban and rural areas, and that the shift is already reversing itself. There is much disagreement among the parties about whether Hillary supporters will in fact defect to McCain. Many pollsters are skeptical about this claim, and the polls are inconsistent. In the NEWSWEEK Poll, asked if Palin made them more likely to vote for McCain, 14 percent of Clinton supporters said yes. But since our previous poll, in July, the number of them who say they will vote for Obama rather than McCain has gone up by 7 percent. Still, that the number is greater than zero is significant. Why would someone who backed Clinton in the primaries now prefer McCain to Obama? Possible reasons: 1. They want to vote for a woman; Sarah Palin on the Pub ticket made all the difference. 2. They **don’t** want to vote for an African-American, and would have gone over to McCain whomever he had chosen as running mate. 3. They still believe in Clinton’s politics and proposals, and believe McCain represents them better than Obama does. I mention this only for the sake of completeness; I think it can be ruled out. The number of voters who think this way would have to be vanishingly small. Probably in many cases the answer is a combination of 1. and 2., but that’s just my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/2 "2008-09-19T17:32:37Z")
Another possibility (#4): they were never that fond of Hillary’s actual positions in the first place, but they supported her because of the perception that she was well to Obama’s right. Now that it’s down to the two of them, they find themselves more in agreement with McCain for whatever reason. Instead of wondering if their support of McCain makes sense, it might be worth wondering if their support of Hillary ever really made sense. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/3 "2008-09-19T17:35:32Z")
1. While politically closer to McCain, they voted for Clinton in the primaries because they want to see a female president. When Obama won the Democratic nomination, they reverted to a more Republican voting pattern. Remember that in a lot of states, it’s not necessary to be a registered Democat in order to have cast your primary ballot for Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/4 "2008-09-19T17:48:17Z")
Or 1. They vote for whoever has the most experience. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/5 "2008-09-19T17:51:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Or > > 1. They vote for whoever has the most experience. > > Regards, > Shodan Clinton had more experience than McCain? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/6 "2008-09-19T17:53:21Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Clinton had more experience than McCain? 😕 He’s saying Clinton had more than Obama. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/7 "2008-09-19T17:57:21Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > He’s saying Clinton had more than Obama. But if someone just went for who had the most experience, they wouldn’t have been Clinton supporters in the first place (I suppose they technically should have been Biden supporters, if that was the only criterion). ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/8 "2008-09-19T17:58:33Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > He’s saying Clinton had more than Obama. But now they’re switching to McCain. Why? I guess McCain has more experience… but then, if Shodan’s reason is correct, they would have gone to McCain _in the first place_, not Clinton. Basically I’m saying that if the experience inequality goes McCain \> Clinton \> Obama, Shodan’s reason cannot possibly be the correct one. And presumably that IS the correct double-inequality. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/9 "2008-09-19T18:00:53Z")
[QUOTE=waterj2] But if someone just went for who had the most experience, they wouldn’t have been Clinton supporters in the first place (I suppose they technically should have been Biden supporters, if that was the only criterion). [/quote] Maybe they agreed that Hilary’s eight years as co-President counted. It makes sense, in a way - it’s more than Obama or Biden has. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/10 "2008-09-19T18:02:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. They still believe in Clinton’s politics and proposals, and believe McCain represents them better than Obama does. I mention this only for the sake of completeness; I think it can be ruled out. The number of voters who think this way would have to be vanishingly small. I would think that number would be zero. No one who voted based on the candidate’s positions could possibly think McCain is closer to Clinton’s positions than Obama is. Indeed it had been noted many times that on details Clinton and Obama’s political positions were really rather close. 1. Some Clintonites feel that Clinton was robbed of the candidacy and are going to vote for McCain to protest what they view as an unconscionable theft by Obama and the Democratic party. Nevermind that the facts in no way bear this out…some are True Believers and will not be swayed by anything as prosaic as logic and facts. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/11 "2008-09-19T18:06:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. They want to vote for a woman; Sarah Palin on the Pub ticket made all the difference. It’s not so much as they want to vote for a woman, that they don’t want to vote against a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/12 "2008-09-19T18:08:20Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > But now they’re switching to McCain. Why? > > I guess McCain has more experience… but then, if Shodan’s reason is correct, they would have gone to McCain _in the first place_, not Clinton. But McCain wasn’t in the Democratic primary. It’s entirely possible that some of the people in the McCain count when polled on Obama vs McCain or Clinton vs McCain were in the Clinton count when polled on Obama vs Clinton. Plenty of folk are registered as the opposite party to try and steer the primaries toward the candidates that would, to them, do the least damage or be less electable than their party’s candidate. There’s bound to be a number of Republicans who voted for Clinton in the primary that would return to McCain in the general. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/13 "2008-09-19T18:12:01Z")
Eh, I think everyone’s making a mountain out of a molehill. The reality is far, far, far from supporting the contention that women are flocking to Palin, in fact, it’s exactly the opposite. > [@](#): > > . . .Obama now also leads McCain among women, a group that favored McCain by five points in polling taken just after the Republican convention, where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin became the second woman ever to be nominated to a major party ticket. > > O **bama leads McCain 54 percent to 38 percent among all women**. He holds a two point edge among white women, **a 21 percentage point swing in Obama’s direction from one week ago**. > . . . > > Palin’s favorable rating stands at 40 percent, down 4 points from last week. Her unfavorable rating, which stands at 30 percent, has risen eight points in the same time period. \*\*Her favorable rating among women has fallen 11 points in the past week. \*\*. . > > [Poll: Obama Retakes Lead Over McCain - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/17/opinion/polls/main4456249.shtml) Palin was a flash in the pan. Women have now seen what she actually offers and have moved along. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/14 "2008-09-19T18:12:35Z")
1. As irrational as it may seem to some, they never liked Obama in the first place and are choosing the candidate (McPalin) over the party. 2. Many states required a change in voter registration in order to vote in a primary. Perhaps some/many of these newly registered democrats voted for Hill only to hope she end up on the ballot against “their guy”. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/15 "2008-09-19T18:17:47Z")
> [@JXJohns](#): > > 1. Many states required a change in voter registration in order to vote in a primary. Perhaps some/many of these newly registered democrats voted for Hill only to hope she end up on the ballot against “their guy”. … huh. Didn’t Rush Limbaugh urge all his flock to vote for Hillary so the Democrats would be thrown into turmoil by a close primary? I can’t imagine those numbers amounted to much, if any, but still… ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/16 "2008-09-19T18:29:36Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I would think that number would be zero. No one who voted based on the candidate’s positions could possibly think McCain is closer to Clinton’s positions than Obama is. Indeed it had been noted many times that on details Clinton and Obama’s political positions were really rather close. Maybe they just really, really want that gas tax holiday more than anything else :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/17 "2008-09-19T18:44:54Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Maybe they agreed that Hilary’s eight years as co-President counted. > > It makes sense, in a way - it’s more than Obama or Biden has. > > Regards, > Shodan Oh come on Shodan, 8 years as co-president as being more experience than Obama or Biden? Well, Obama will need someone to tell him where the good bathroom is in the white house is I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/18 "2008-09-19T19:01:21Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Maybe they agreed that Hilary’s eight years as co-President counted. > > It makes sense, in a way - it’s more than Obama or Biden has. > > Regards, > Shodan Hillary doesn’t have more experience than Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/19 "2008-09-19T19:04:10Z")
If they cared about experience, they wouldn’t support Palin. I think that racism is obviously a large factor, especially among older voters, and it would be ridiculous to deny it. There’s also a percentage (I don’t think it’s really very large) who are switching out of sheer, childish spite. They can’t stand it that Obama beat Hillary, so now they want Obama to lose. Issues have nothing to do with it. It’s purely a puerile, emotional motivation. There is no credible, policy-based rationale for anyone who claims to have supported Hillary’s policies to now say they prefer McCain’s over Obama’s. That leaves only the _ir_rational (racism, childish spite) or the distinct possibility that they were never really Hillary supporters in the first place. I think it’s an increasingly shrinking group, though. I think that most of those on the internet who claim to be “converted” Hillary supporters are Republican moles prowing message boards and comment sections hoping to create an impression of a movement. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335/20 "2008-09-19T19:06:58Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > Hillary doesn’t have more experience than Biden. She doesn’t even have as much elected exprerience as Obama. That’s why the “exprience” argument is such a canard…that and the fact that it flies in the face of supporting Palin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-supporters-switching-to-mccain-palin-why/464335.md?page=2)