Poll: Are Clinton Delegates Dissatisfied?

CBS/NY Times Poll: 42 Percent Of Pledged Clinton Delegates Say They’ll Vote For Her At Convention

(CBS)  Despite calls by Democratic leaders for party unity at the Democratic convention, a CBS News/New York Times survey shows some continuing dissatisfaction among delegates pledged to Senator Hillary Clinton. The dissatisfaction among Clinton delegates relates to both the nominee and the process by which he was elected.

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Read The Complete Poll:
Who They Are
The Convention
Candidates And Issues

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Many of those who say they will still vote for Clinton on the floor of the convention are doubtful about Barack Obama's electability and concerned about his lack of experience. Fewer than half are enthusiastic about his impending nomination. Among all delegates, about a third are not satisfied with the Democratic Party’s method of choosing a nominee; that rises to nearly half of Clinton’s pledged delegates. A majority of her delegates want the Michigan and Florida delegates seated with full votes at the convention.

Forty-two percent of delegates originally pledged to Hillary Clinton (20 percent of all pledged delegates) and 8 percent of superdelegates say they will vote for Clinton on the convention’s presidential roll call.

Delegates who say they will vote for Clinton on the floor of the convention overwhelmingly worry about Obama’s lack of experience. Sixty-two percent say that is his biggest weakness.

Most of the interviews for this CBS News/New York Times Poll of delegates to the Democratic convention were conducted before the announcement of an agreement between the two campaigns that Hillary Clinton’s name would be entered into nomination at the Democratic convention, so they may not reflect the actual number who will cast votes for her on that roll call.

Delegates who will vote for Clinton on the floor are less confident than delegates voting for Obama that he can win in November. Sixty percent are confident, compared to 86 percent of those who will vote for Obama.

The poll shows that delegates to the Democratic convention see Obama’s inspirational qualities as his greatest strength and express enthusiasm for him as the Democratic nominee. Twenty-three percent say so, ahead of bringing change to the country, which 13 percent say is his greatest strength. Being a good communicator, leadership skills, the ability to unite the country, and being a fresh face all tie for third place at 10 percent each.

Delegates agree that Obama’s greatest weakness as a candidate is inexperience, although Clinton delegates are much more likely to say so. Nearly six in 10 Clinton delegates say Obama’s lack of experience is his greatest weakness, compared with only 29 percent of delegates pledged to Obama. Nearly as many Obama delegates (24 percent) say he doesn’t have any weaknesses as a candidate.

Most delegates originally elected as pledged to Hillary Clinton (60 percent) say they support Obama’s nomination enthusiastically. However, Clinton delegates are more likely than delegates overall to support Obama with reservations or simply because he is the de facto nominee, and 5 percent say they don’t support him.

During the convention, the Obama campaign is expected to call for the formation of a commission that would address the rules for selecting a presidential nominee in 2012.

Currently, two-thirds of Democratic delegates are satisfied with the system the Democratic party uses to pick its nominees, but just 21 percent are “very satisfied” with it.

Satisfaction with the nominating system is tied to which candidate delegates support. Delegates pledged to support Barack Obama are happier with the nominating system than are those pledged to support Hillary Clinton. In fact, 48 percent of Clinton’s pledged delegates are not satisfied with the Democratic Party’s method of selecting its nominee.

Much of the dissatisfaction among Clintons’ delegates may stem from what happened in Florida and Michigan. Those two states violated Democratic National Committee rules by holding their primaries too early. Both states were ultimately penalized, first by being awarded no delegates, and then being granted half the original allocation.

Sixty-one percent of delegates pledged to Clinton say Florida and Michigan’s delegates should have been granted full votes. Seventy-six percent of Obama’s pledged delegates are satisfied with the outcome.

The commission, if approved by the delegates, will be urged to address the criticized frontloading of the primary calendar. This year, more than half the states held their primaries or caucuses by February 5th.

Although Iowa and New Hampshire continued their “first in the nation” status, 57 percent of delegates now say they would like to see other states hold their events first. (Only a handful of Iowa and New Hampshire delegates were interviewed; more of them want to leave the calendar as it is.)

The commission will also be encouraged to reduce the number of superdelegates - elected officials and party leaders who are not bound by results of primaries and caucuses - or to reduce their influence by increasing the number of pledged delegates.

Fifty-five percent of Democratic delegates think the party should continue to have a mix of super and elected delegates. A third, however, would like to see the party select its nominee using only elected or pledged delegates.

The CBS News/New York Times Delegate Poll was conducted July 16-August 17, 2008 with a random sample of 970 Democratic delegates. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus three percentage points for results based on the entire sample. Interviews were conducted via phone; if a delegate preferred, he or she could complete the survey online. Online interviewing was conducted by CfMC, a San Francisco-based research software company.

[mycommentspg]

These are difficult times for America with war, the economy, job losses, healthcare, and many other areas of concern. The public forgets that Congress doesn''t get it and they keep gettting elected, even the corrupt ones. America, or at least the small percentage of registered voters need to concentrate on members of Congress. Obama may be ready in a number of years, but not now. http://mycommentspage.blogspot.com/

[dashortround]

Let the few remaining "sore losers" vote for McCain - it really won''t make a bit of difference for either Obama or McCain.

The thought of Hillary ever going "Independent" (as robertahoe suggests) is simply ludicrous; she''s far too heavily invested in the Democratic party to ever want to join the likes of Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin and Cynthia McKinney in political oblivion. An Independent has no chance whatsoever to ever actually win the Presidency.

[victor0803]

1) Let%u2019s not forget that those American pilots with good wisdom and skills made it successfully in Vietnam without being shot down like john McCain.
2) The so call reporters should stop cutting people in mid speech; they should look for another venue for their negative analysis. I am still wondering why CNN spent 70% of their time in DNC convention ground to discuss (none existing) Hilary%u2019s party division and McSame in the name of coverage.

OBAMA 08-16!

[robertahoe]

maybe just maybe YOU are wrong?

[robertahoe]

at least Bush stuck with his friends or party

[robertahoe]

I can''t believe he picked Joe over Hillary? Talk about change?

[robertahoe]

I wanted Hillary now I will vote McCain!!!

[sdukeiii]

They should all be ashamed. How could anyone have voted against Hillary Rodham Clinton? She took the convention floor by a long shot! Dems have made the WRONG choice, who is the lesser of two evils? What an amazing job she has done and will continue to do. KUDOS to you, Hillary

[puma2012]

I guess the question should really be: What excuse are the Obama supporters going to come up with when he loses? Weather? Hanging chads? Rigged voting machines? Blame Hillary? Hillary could have easily beaten McCain. We lost our best chance at retaking the white house when Obama became our candidate. Maybe Hillary can run as an independent in 2012. A lot of voters would go for that.

[noloyalisti]

As Hillary said last night, all of those who voted for her should vote for Obama. All those people have far more in common with Obama than they will ever have with McSame and the rest of the Gay Old Pervert party.

[dillypickles]

"Your statement is too general. Many of us are far better off than we were eight years ago. At this point, half of the voters support Obama and half of the voters support McCain. These numbers are similar to the last two elections. America is deeply divided. To say that most people are no better off is misleading. Everyone that I know is either just as well off or better off than they were eight years ago."

Posted by rhs648 at 12:21 AM : Aug 26, 2008,,,
------------------------------------------------------Not this 60 year old lady having lost a bundle of her savings. I was better off 8 years ago as my money bought more & I had health insurance. Now.......my little bit of fixed income ($500 per month) disability goes to credit card payments since I have no health insurance with nothing left over. Constantly living in the red. Well......doesn''t matter to me, since I don''t own a home either, they can''t get blood from a turnip & if I''m put in jail because I can''t pay my bills.....well....then....I will have 3 meals a day, clothing, & medical care.

[tbweb]

The Democrat Party has fractured.
It isn''t about race, it is about gender for me.

Posted by dottydo at 11:54 AM : Aug 26, 2008,,,

For me its not about race, gender or even age! Its about being an American, pulling together like united team, its about American teamwork! What ever happened to that simple concept? We saw a glimmer of it at the recent Olympics and may just have to wait 4 more years to see it again at the next Olympics, don`t count on seeing American centric ideas or activity from our nation as a whole anytime soon! Its about about `whats in it for me` and not `whats in it for us!`

[dottydo]

The Democrat Party has fractured.
It isn''t about race, it is about gender for me.
Kennedy cannot bring himself to pass a torch of power to a woman.
Voters (myself included) will walk out on this party for it.
Another walkout cannot be ignored.
The question I hear asked daily is:
Would voters during WWII have elected a President with a Japanese name?

Who really expects Americans during a war to elect a President with a undisclosed poast bearing the enemy''s name?


Another question I hear a lot is
Will Americans stretch the Costitution by electing a President who was born in Panama?

Clinton might as well team up with Liberman on the Independent ticket,since she will be a write in in all States by Voters anyway.

[tbweb]

Your statement is too general. Many of us are far better off than we were eight years ago. At this point, half of the voters support Obama and half of the voters support McCain. These numbers are similar to the last two elections. America is deeply divided. To say that most people are no better off is misleading. Everyone that I know is either just as well off or better off than they were eight years ago.

Posted by rhs648 at 12:21 AM : Aug 26, 2008,,,

You need me to be more specific? Fine no problem! There is no way Americans can be even remotely satisfied with the first 6 years of Republican administration, especially after inheriting a budget surplus and turning it into record deficits, doubling the national debt to over $9 trillion and spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when Iraq has record profits from over priced oil. The list of Republican embarrassments is long and distinguished including outing CIA agents, turning a 6 month Iraq war into 6 years, `s`e`x scandals, misleading war intel, domestic spying, taking eyes off Afghanistan and now losing there, Osama bin Laden off the radar screen!, etc. Sen. Obama should have a double digit lead easily and don`t because he is `Black` and its the only reason Republicans even have a shot at the White House and everybody knows it! Hopefully this was specific enough for you.

[trrrorislam3]

Obama''s DNC Message: I''m Like You

NO YOU ARE NOT,,,

HUSSEIN SAYS AMERICANS MUST LEARN SPANISH,,,

ummmm it is the DEMONIC-RATS that want to grant amnesty to illegals,,, including HUSSEIN,,,

HUSSEINs solution for illegals is to grant them amnesty and have americans learn SPANISH,,,

words out of his own mouth,,,

Barack Obama: Your Children Should Learn To Speak Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk

Obama to America--Learn Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W7srmHLclw

[rhs648]

correction

Democrats should ask Americans the same question former Pres. Reagan asked Americans and vote based on the answer! Who to vote for is not complicated, if you are better off than you were 4 years ago, or 8 years ago, vote for the Republican, if you are `NOT` better off than you were 4 years ago or 8 years ago, vote for the Democrat! Why aren`t the Republicans asking this question this time around? Answer: Republicans know they can`t!!

Posted by tbweb

Your statement is too general. Many of us are far better off than we were eight years ago. At this point, half of the voters support Obama and half of the voters support McCain. These numbers are similar to the last two elections. America is deeply divided. To say that most people are no better off is misleading. Everyone that I know is either just as well off or better off than they were eight years ago.

[rhs648]

Democrats should ask Americans the same question former Pres. Reagan asked Americans and vote based on the answer! Who to vote for is not complicated, if you are better off than you were 4 years ago, or 8 years ago, vote for the Republican, if you are `NOT` better off than you were 4 years ago or 8 years ago, vote for the Democrat! Why aren`t the Republicans asking this question this time around? Answer: Republicans know they can`t!!

Posted by tbweb

Your statement is too general. Many of us are far better off than we were eight years ago. At this point, half of the voters support Obama and half of the voters support McCain. These numbers are similar to the last two elections. America is deeply divided. To say that most people are no better off is misleading. Everyone that I know is either just as well off or better off as they were eight years ago.

[roger3815]

No, they are just stroking the Clinton''s ego. It''s really pathetic.

[kansas1946]

Delegates who say they will vote for Clinton on the floor of the convention overwhelmingly worry about Obama%u2019s lack of experience. Sixty-two percent say that is his biggest weakness.
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That is a bunch of BS. What they are saying is they are worried he can''t win, but they are going to do everything in their power to continue to point out flaws and try to get folks not to vote for him. If this is the mind-set of the hard-core Hillary supporters, then no wonder she lost. Most of us have more sense.

[kansas1946]

Geez, what a bunch of whiners. They have a wonderful candidate and still they whine. Hillary lost fair and square and still they whine. So with the supreme court on a razors edge and with the spector of losing Roe, they are going to vote for McCain? I am a woman, would love to see a woman elected president, and one will be, just not this go around. When you harm yourself and your positions just for spite, then you deserve what you get. McCain.