# World Net Daily poll show 20% of Republicans leaning toward Obama. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 10, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366 "2012-02-10T02:19:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/1 "2012-02-10T02:19:39Z")
> **[20% of Republicans leaning to Obama! \* WorldNetDaily \* by WND Staff](https://www.wnd.com/2012/02/20-of-republicans-leaning-to-obama/)** > > ... Read more > [@](#): > > In every case except the match-up against Ron Paul, more than 20 percent of Republican voters said they are more likely to support Obama than the Republican challenger. And Ron Paul is close, as 19 percent of Republicans said they are more likely to support Obama than Paul. I’m not sure what to think of this. World Net Daily is right leaning so it doesn’t seem like the poll would be biased in Obama’s favor, and it seems doubtful that the article would slant the results in that direction, but these results seem unlikely to me. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/2 "2012-02-10T02:21:47Z")
“We’re GOP all the way but HOLY SHIT are those guys fuckin’ crazy! Obama may be an evil socialist closet Muslim, but at least he’s not crazy!” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/3 "2012-02-10T02:28:01Z")
I’m also not sure it would be %20, but even on this MB there are some folks who are still registered Republicans who just never got around to changing their registration in the past 15-20 years, or are still hoping for a sane candidate. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/4 "2012-02-10T02:33:18Z")
I guess that at least 20% of Republicans don’t think that he’s an “evil socialist closet Muslim”. I never did believe that a large majority of them thought those things. Although, come to think of it, 80% _is_ a large majority. Still, I doubt that most of them think like that. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/5 "2012-02-10T02:50:37Z")
To get a gauge of comparison, you regard _World Net Daily_ as “right leaning”. Yes. Quite. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/6 "2012-02-10T03:06:25Z")
That’s about twice the party defection rate of 2008. I seriously doubt its true (I’ve never head or the polling firm, and WND is basically a tabloid), but it would be a big deal if it were. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/7 "2012-02-10T03:28:54Z")
Not being familiar with World Net Daily, I read the comments for the article. It’s really fascinating how completely opposite their perspective is from my own and most of the posters here. I feel like I’m reading posts from a completely different country, with entirely different leadership. Very strange. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/8 "2012-02-10T03:44:00Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > Not being familiar with World Net Daily, I read the comments for the article. It’s really fascinating how completely opposite their perspective is from my own and most of the posters here. I feel like I’m reading posts from a completely different country, with entirely different leadership. Very strange. I guess it’s the Bizarro Straight Dope ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/9 "2012-02-10T03:52:18Z")
Markedly less intelligent-sounding, though. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/10 "2012-02-10T04:10:19Z")
> [@](#): > > World Net Daily poll show 20% of Republicans leaning toward Obama. Which I take to mean they won’t vote for any likely Republican candidate. But I will predict that few if any of those will actually vote for Obama either, so it’s a small net gain for him. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/11 "2012-02-10T04:27:40Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Which I take to mean they won’t vote for any likely Republican candidate. But I will predict that few if any of those will actually vote for Obama either, so it’s a small net gain for him. But if they don’t vote at all then in a way it is a gain. That’s what I take from the situation. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/12 "2012-02-10T04:30:37Z")
First off, who the heck is Wenzell Strategies? When they say they polled “Republican voters”, do they mean they polled registered Republicans, or people who maybe voted Republican last time, or any time. Its an opening move towards a brokered convention, laying the groundwork to reject the presumed nomination of whomsoever wins the most delegates. And draft Jeb Bush. Maybe Neil. OK, Jenna. They’re establishing the narrative that none of the above can possibly win, so unless the Republican Party wants to start negotiating terms for surrender, they must be prepared to overturn the judgement of the base, if need be. Examine the fingerprints on this, and you will discover strands of porcine DNA. Karl Rove. Karl Rove, who has spent months cajoling money, begging, whoring, he has raised a metric buttload of money to spend un-electing Obama and is going to give it to _Romney_? Christ Jesus, Newt? If they get this in place, it buys time, maybe they can find a candidate to ride in on a white charger. Maybe Chris Christie, if he hasn’t already eaten it. But for any of this to work, they have to start early, get people used to the idea that the guy who wins the nomination isn’t necessarily the guy who won the most votes. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/13 "2012-02-10T05:38:04Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > First off, who the heck is Wenzell Strategies? Some very minimal Googling brings up the name of one Fritz Wenzel. It seems he was a reporter for the Toledo Blade up to 2005 when he started Wenzel Strategies. He also had some affiliation with Zogby for a time. I don’t know enough about Ohio politics but he had some connection to a guy named Tom Noe who was somehow involved in a scandal resulting in [OH Gov. Bob Taft](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Taft) being indicted and basically having his political career end in ruins. [Here is a link](http://www.salon.com/2005/10/06/ohio_32/) to a 2005 Salon article about Wenzel. I’m sure there’s something interesting there but I haven’t really managed to get a good grasp on all of it yet. At first glance it seems like he (Wenzel) is a loyal party guy and is well connected to major Ohio Republicans. Oh - one of the [testimonials](http://www.wenzelstrategies.com/testimonials/) on the Wenzel Strategies website is from Senator Rand Paul. Apparently Wenzel was his pollster. I think it’s safe to say they are hardly a non-partisan pollster. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/14 "2012-02-10T05:44:34Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > To get a gauge of comparison, you regard _World Net Daily_ as “right leaning”. Yes. Quite. aka _World Nut Daily_ ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/15 "2012-02-10T12:21:05Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > To get a gauge of comparison, you regard _World Net Daily_ as “right leaning”. Yes. Quite. Okay. Not so much leaning as falling over. They’re extremely right-wing. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/16 "2012-02-10T14:48:49Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Okay. Not so much leaning as falling over. They’re extremely right-wing. They “lean” right much in the same way that a black hole has a gravitational pull. Yeah, sure it’s an accurate statement, but the scale is important. To my mind more important than the number of declared Republicans who will vote for Obama is the number who will simply not vote. I ain’t clicking on a WND link, afraid of passing over the stupid event horizon, but does that poll address that number? I suspect it may actually be higher than 20%, and I mean not just a poll but actual election results. The nominating process has been hijacked by wack-a-doodles this time around, and I believe all but the smallest parts of the R base are going to be turned off by Nov. In any sane world Romney would be the least likely candidate among a field of much better, but I no longer believe there is much better in the R party. The “much better” is staying away from politics. (Full disclosure - While a D. voter, I think the Democratic party has much the same flaws. A slightly deeper bench in terms of leadership, but you have to look for it. Reid is little better than Barney Fife. Look to Cordray and Warren for your next round of Democratic leaders.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/17 "2012-02-10T14:54:31Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > Not being familiar with World Net Daily, I read the comments for the article. It’s really fascinating how completely opposite their perspective is from my own and most of the posters here. I feel like I’m reading posts from a completely different country, with entirely different leadership. Very strange. This one’s a real gem: > [@](#): > > Those nasty lefties never do present any real arguments or facts, do they? They just attack everyone who disagrees with them. The fact that all but one GOP candidate is a flip flopper is the one good point and proves beyond a doubt that the GOP has been infiltrated by none other than the left. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/18 "2012-02-10T15:14:36Z")
I wouldn’t put too much stock into this regardless of the source, given the timing. The Republican primary battle is at its zenith, and right now Obama is the only serious presidential candidate nobody is saying bad things about. Once the primaries are over and (not?) Mitt starts attacking Obama the numbers will even out a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/19 "2012-02-10T15:59:18Z")
Its more likey that 20% of republican voters like fucking with pollsters. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366/20 "2012-02-10T16:11:09Z")
About a decade ago, I described the WorldNetDaily as “the Weekly World News of op-ed.” Can’t think of a reason to change that - anything the WND says would undoubtedly have more validity in a world dominated by aliens, Bigfoot, and the like. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-net-daily-poll-show-20-of-republicans-leaning-toward-obama/612366.md?page=2)