Poll: Independent Voters Unenthusiastic About Obama And McCain

This was supposed to be the Presidential year when independent “swing” voters would be excited about having two purportedly less-traditional politicians to choose from — Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain. But a new poll suggests that independent voters are not particularly enthusiastic about either one of them.

This political tidbit is noted by the Boston Globe which points to a new poll making the rounds about the political enthusiasm gap:

The oft-noted enthusiasm gap that favors Democrat Barack Obama becomes starkly apparent in a new poll out today.

But the more telling finding in the survey by the Associated Press and Yahoo News is that many independents — who typically decide presidential elections — are not very excited and are very undecided.

Only 21 percent of independent voters — being targeted by both Obama and Republican John McCain — said they find the election interesting — down from 31 percent in November — and just 7 percent say it’s exciting. About a quarter support each candidate, about 40 percent remain undecided, and half say they could still change their minds.

This is why both campaigns see independent voters as a potent group that must be wooed and won. But both campaigns will have trouble doing this as they do what politicians according to the conventional political wisdom must do once they win primaries: shore up their bases and yet try to expand their bases. In Campaign 2008 this means you see Obama largely tip-toeing to the middle and McCain tip-toeing with one foot to the middle and his other to the right — which can prove awkward, indeed.

The net result for both: the two candidates are generating so many flip-flops now that their output threatens to shut down an outsourced flip-flop factory in China.

The other result: the carefully-nurtured images of two different yet not totally dissimilar candidates (the 2000 McCain Maverick, and the pre-nomination-locked-up Obama Change) are now fading away as they become perceived as two politicians largely practicing politics as usual.

And this is likely to continue: both sides are about to go negative, bigtime…

The poll also underscores again Obama’s problem with some Hillary Clinton supporters:

The poll also found that supporters of Hillary Clinton are still cool toward Obama, who is trying to unite Democrats. Just 12 percent of former Clinton loyalists say they are excited about the campaign, one-third the excitement level among Obama’s longer-term backers.

And then there’s the supposed lead of this poll — which actually amounts to a big “NO DUH!”

Among each candidate’s core supporters, Obama’s — African-Americans, Democrats, and liberals — are more enthusiastic and have become more excited about the race since fall than whites, Republicans, and conservatives, who tend to support McCain.

Even though their impact is pooh-poohed by some partisans on both sides (until the votes are actually counted and it shows their impact) both camps will be going after independent voters.

Who are now apparently concluding this is just one more typical political year dominated by typical politicians.