Who will the Hillary supporters vote for?

[Sabine]

A government/econ. teacher at my school is a HUGE Hillary supporter (seriously, she didn''t wash her hand after shaking Hillary''s, etc.), and she was absolutely furious when Hillary didn''t win the nomination. Although she is a definite liberal, she has come out to say that now that Hillary is officially not the VP choice, she will be voting for McCain. I understand some of Hillary supporters not liking Obama, but it really seems to me if she''s going to be basing her vote out of spite, not on the candidate that comes closest to her ideal politics. Do you think that many other Hillary supporters will vote out of spite?

 

[miraclesrule]

This conversation is taking place in large numbers in my daughter''s new family. They are a large outspoken group of people and when that topic came up, the arguments against those who stated they were "not going to vote at all if Hillary doesn''t win" were so overwhelming that the ones who stated the opinion had no justifiable counter argument so the issue was silenced.

I haven''t heard many people state that they would absolutely vote for McCain in the general election if Hillary didn''t win the primary. I expect that we will hear more of this as we move forward with Palin on the ticket. It will make for an interesting and debate filled election.

I am more interested in a person''s thought process and reasons in voting FOR someone, rather than the reasons they are AGAINST someone. Usually that is sufficient to contrast the strategies that the opponents would employ and where their ideologies differ.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

In my opinion..(and this is just my crazy political scientist opinion/estimation) I think about 10-15% will defect to McCain (the PUMAs, etc.) and then about 20% won''t vote at all..the rest will probably go with Obama.

 

[Anna0499]

Interesting thread! I don''t know if would say "many," as I think most Hilary voters liked her for her plans/policies for the country, not necessarily just the idea of her being president. I know quite a few strong Hilary supporters (worked on her campaign) and almost all of them have now defected to Barack''s side, mostly so that Democrats are put back in the White House and because they are very liberal. However, I do know a few who are undecided, but I think only because they are unsure about Barack in general. It''s obviously difficult to vote for your candidate''s "enemy" (be it Barack or McCain), but if I had to bet I would say most Hilary supporters would vote for the lesser of two evils (in their minds) and go with Barack. The beauty and tragedy of the political process is that candidates from the same party often have to spend a great deal of time "bashing" each other, leaving the party divided once the general election comes.