A Lord Garth Opinion
Almost everyone else who followed the 2012 NH Primary followed the R.side. I followed the D. side. The reason I did this, other than to be different, was that, although much of the 2012 vote is based on whether voters like the R. nominee more than the D. nominee. The vote is also based on whether voters even care. Furthermore, the vote totals for an incumbent President are a metric that is much more robust than most polls because the sample is so large (even if only in one state). Thus I report, in abbreviated form, the NH D. 2012 Presidential primary:
Obama 45,008; with 82% of the vote. No nationally known candidate opposed Obama.
Contrast this to the 1996 NH Presidential D. primary, when a D. was running for a second term. The results, in abbreviated form:
Clinton 76,754k; with 95% of the vote
His closest competitor was long ago comedian Pat Paulson with 921 votes. His closest nationally known competitor was Lyndon LaRouche with 390.
Even assuming a number of D. voters cast ballots in the R. Primary (which is possible given that Huntsman received 40,000 votes), this obviously shows an enormous lack of enthusiasm for Obama among his own party. |