Democrats going for McCain?! Hell must be handing out show shovels today.

A not insignificant percentage of both Obama and Clinton supporters currently say they would vote for McCain if he ends up running against the candidate they do not support.  I’m not sure what’s scarier, the 28% of Clinton voters that would jump ship to McCain or the 18% of Obama supporters that would.  Why?  Because that many Democrats voting for a Republican (McCain) vs. another Democrat makes me suspicious of the Republican.  I’m not really sure if I like that or not.  The plus side is that a Republican would take office, the down side it that it’s a Republican liked by the pissed off Democratic base and basicly tolerated by the Republican base.  That gives we the willies thinking of it.   Dogs and cats living together.

Gallup has an excellent analysis on the data comparison posted here. 

As would be expected, almost all Democratic voters who say they support Obama for their party’s nomination also say they would vote for him in a general election matchup against McCain. But only 59% of Democratic voters who support Clinton say they would vote for Obama against McCain, while 28% say they would vote for the Republican McCain. This suggests that some Clinton supporters are so strongly opposed to Obama (or so loyal to Clinton) that they would go so far as to vote for the “other” party’s candidate next November if Obama is the Democratic nominee.

The data suggest that the continuing and sometimes fractious Democratic nomination fight could have a negative impact for the Democratic Party in next November’s election. A not insignificant percentage of both Obama and Clinton supporters currently say they would vote for McCain if he ends up running against the candidate they do not support.

This may actually be the edge that McCain needs to compensate for Republican voters that may elect to ’sit-out’ the vote.  I really can’t envision a far right Republican ‘protest’ voting for Obama, or Clinton, because McCain is not conservative enough.  Nose, cut, spite etc…  I think the 11% mentioned below may be a bit more smoke than actual flame.

Additionally, some threat of deserting the party always takes place as party nomination battles are waged, and this threat can dissipate. For example, in answer to a recent Gallup question, 11% of Republicans said they would vote for the Democratic candidate or a third-party candidate next fall if McCain does not choose a vice president who is considerably more conservative than he is.