As you have read in the comments last week, there was some polling going on in Vermont a few days ago. We now know some of what was being polled (besides the gov-stuff), and it was kind of an eye-roller. From Public Policy Polling (PPP):
If there’s any state where you could imagine there being a serious desire among Democratic voters to replace Barack Obama with someone further to the left next year it would probably be Vermont. Not only is it one of the most liberal states in the country it’s also the home of 2 liberal icons, Bernie Sanders and Howard Dean, who if there was going to be a viable primary challenger seem like plausible candidates.
The results were predictable, and the poll largely a waste of time. First of all, there’s no primary challenge to Obama in sight anywhere, and while Vermont may be “liberal” (it’s actually more complex than the “liberal” stamp outsiders slap on us, of course – as PPP shows in their analysis), Obama is immensely popular here – possibly more popular than in any other state (at least from unscientific appearances).
According to PPP’s polling, Sanders would trail trail the President 52-33, but in a bit of a surprise (to me, anyway) would defeat Obama 50-38 among voters describing themselves as ‘very liberal.’ That difference gets wiped out among the ‘somewhat liberal’ set, where Bernie came out with a 39 point deficit. He also showed a 32 point disadvantage with moderates at 57-25.
Despite the fact that they tracked with similar approval/disapproval numbers, Obama would beat Dean by an even larger margin: 61-24, as Dean is not as popular with the ‘very liberal’ set (many of whom remember his center-to-right tenure as Governor, no doubt). Obama’s came in at 45 points better against Dean than against Bernie with that group. The spread among the other ideological demographics was similar.
All in a all a goofy poll. It was probably fun chatting up the idea around the PPP meeting room table, though.
In the more meaningful column, PPP did poll GOP-oriented voters in Vermont on their primary choice. Here was the spread:
Mitt Romney: 26%
Michele Bachmann: 16%
Sarah Palin: 16%
Rick Perry: 10%
Herman Cain: 9%
Ron Paul: 7%
Newt Gingrich: 6%
Jon Huntsman: 3%
Tim Pawlenty: 1%
Look at all that love for Herman Cain! This could be his state (well, relatively speaking). Wonder if the secessionists will claim Ron Paul as their own and try to fluff up their traditional performance on the ballot with his numbers.
Without Palin, here’s the spread: Romney: 29%, Bachmann 21%, Perry 11%, Cain 10%, Gingrich 9%, Paul 8%, Perry 2%, Huntsman 1%.
I would like to see a poll done after his non stance against the T-baggers. His inability to grow a pair is unsettling to many right now so this poll taken before is bogus and I would bet Bernie and Dean (who knows how to street fight) would be clobbering him right about now!
The presidency is bought and paid for by private dollars; if possible, to an even greater extent than Congress.
Bernie is no fool and knows full well that he is in exactly the best position he could be in to work for his constituents, who are not just the people of Vermont, but the 90% of all Americans who finish out of chips in our special- interest-driven “post-democracy.”
With the climate changing, soon we’ll be perfectly positioned as a banana republic.
We need more than one person on the Left to pound out the right messages. The Tea Party Repubs and Lieberman types have been pounding away at labor, social programs (next it will be Food Stamps), and just about everything that made this the Best and the Brightest country after WWII. They pound away at everything good and decent in our society, and after a while (like with annoying TV commercials), some Americans buy into it, because they are not hearing anything from the Left. (That’ why I loathe Silent Vigils)
I’d like to see Bernie replace Biden on the ticket and come out swinging. Obama/Bernie–Good Cop/Bad Cop–I think Bernie could totally humiliate any Repub VP candidate in the debates.