That same poll says that Ralph Nader, the Independent, took 5-6% and was taking from the Democratic voter pool.
New York – Riding high after locking up his party’s presidential nomination, Republican John McCain of Arizona has moved ahead of both of his potential Democratic Party rivals in a national general election test, the latest Zogby telephone survey shows.
Perhaps profiting from the continuing political battle across the aisle, McCain would defeat Hillary Clinton of New York by six points and Barack Obama of Illinois by 5 points, the survey shows. Clinton and Obama are locked in a tight battle to win the Democratic Party nomination, a fight that has grown nasty at times recently and threatens to continue on all summer long until the party’s national convention in Denver this August.
When McCain is matched up against Clinton he gets 45%, while Clinton gets 39% and against Obama, McCain receives 44% and Obama 39%.
Nader receives 1 percentage point more in the Clinton McCain matchup than he does in the McCain Obama matchup.
The introduction of long-time activist Ralph Nader into the mix is having an effect on the race, as he wins enough support to make a difference, the poll shows. Nader entered the race recently, charging that there is little difference between the Republican and Democratic parties and their presidential candidates. Using the same argument eight years ago, his presence on the ballot in Florida may well have tipped the presidential election away from Democrat Al Gore and in favor of George W. Bush. His run four years ago yielded less dramatic results, but the political atmosphere has changed since 2004, and may be more favorable for him again, the Zogby survey shows.
The note at the end of the Zogby poll from John Zogby himself says, "Nader’s presence in the race can potentially turn a lulu of a race into an absolute tizzy. The messages to Democrats are clear – number one, Nader may win enough support to get into the general election debates. Number two, what could be at risk is support among several key constituencies that the Democratic Party candidate will need to win in November, notably younger voters, independents, and progressives."
Rasmussen also shows a gap in a general matchup, with McCain ahead of both Obama and Clinton. McCain 46, Obama 40. McCain 46, Clinton 40. (H/T Don Surber for the Rasmussen find)
Rasmussen also mentions that as the Democratic contest "grinds on and gets nastier", Michigan and Pennsylvania has shifted slightly in McCain's direction and they point to their poll supporting that statement. (Michigan here and Pennsylvania here)
With the Democrats fighting tooth and nail for the nomination, and doing so in the public eye, each ripping the reputation and credentials of the other.. McCain really doesn't have to do much except focus on getting his message out. They are doing his work for him, which is one reason the GOP would love to see the Democrats continue to battle all the way until their Denver Convention.
These attacks are not just happening from candidate to candidate though and it has drawn each campaign's supporters into the battle in an ugly way.
One clear recent example is over at Daily KOS where Clinton supporters are "going on strike", and many are lining up with the original writer that suggested the idea.
“This is a strike - a walkout over unfair writing conditions at DailyKos. It does not mean that if conditions get better I won’t ‘work’’ at DailyKos again,” Alegre wrote, promising to come back only “if we ever get to the point where we’re engaging each other in discussion rather than facing off in shouting matches.”
After 1258 comments to that post in the 5 in a half hours it was posted, KOS shut down the comment section.
That is but one example of the extreme divisions that are fracturing the Democratic supporters at their very base.
While is is not uncommon at all to support your candidate to the hilt, the candidates nor their supporters seem to be thinking about the party as a whole for the long term and have turned on themselves like animals all fighting over a piece of meat.
Some of these divisions will be overcome as they rally to the eventual nominee and they group together against "the GOP" for the November elections, but others will not find it as easy to, A) support a candidate that they see as deeply flawed and has made those flaws and their opinion known, in such a public way and B) group together with supporters of the "winning candidate" after having been shown such a massive amount of disrespect from those against their candidate of choice.
The divisions being created within the Democratic party right now, will have severe consequences for the party as a whole come November, but moderates and rational thinking Democratic supporters that are trying to spotlight that particular issue, are being ignored and in some cases seeing themselves attacked for no other reason than trying to tell their brethren liberals to step back and take a breath.
The longer the battle between Clinton and Obama goes on, the deeper these divisions between their supporters are going to get and eventually some are going to hit the point of no return, saying and doing things that cannot be forgiven nor reconciled after one of the candidates get chosen.
As the latest polls are showing, this battle is doing one specific thing... garnering more support for John McCain.
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