Re: Chronicle online poll of 7,300: Camejo won the debate

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

And yet, despite this, and a perfectly reasonable showing in previous
debates, he continues to poll 2-3% in polls. Jose is going to tell us (as
Camejo does) that polls are meaningless, they primarily sample rich white
voters, etc. True enough. But less than a year ago when he was running for
Governor, at a time when he received virtually NO TV or print coverage, was
NOT in the debates, Camejo was polling between 5 and 10% in polls using
identical methodology. Likewise nationally, Kucinich continues to receive
1-2% in polls despite being the only candidate (well, except for Sharpton,
but he receives even less support in the polls) who can be called
progressive.

If this means that the progressive sentiment in this country is that low
it's depressing indeed. I like to think that what it means is that the ABC
(Anybody but Bush and Cheney) sentiment is so strong that people are
applying that to the question of who they should support long before even
the first primary is held, and I think that kind of sentiment is carrying
over to California with an ABA (Anybody but Arnold) sentiment causing people
to support someone who can win (Bustamante) over someone who can't (Camejo).
Of course both nationally and even more so in California, there are still
VERY high "undecideds", which could include lots of progressives who aren't
willing to commit yet to Camejo or Kucinich (presumably because of ABC/ABA
thing). Statistically, of course, I don't know if I'm right, since the polls
don't exactly ask questions like "Do you really support Camejo but are going
to vote for Bustamante to make sure Schwarzenegger doesn't win?" I do know,
on a national level anyway, that a number of progressive people I have
talked to definitely do fall in this category, i.e., they "really" would be
Kucinich supporters but are supporting someone else (Dean, Kerry, Clark) who
is more "electable".

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