Poll-Watch: RNC Delegates as Out of Touch as Bush and Other Fun Facts

Posted by Ari Berman, The Nation at 11:11 AM on September 2, 2008.

It's often asked who are the 25 percent of voters who still approve of the job President Bush is doing as President. Answer: they're delegates at the Republican Convention!




The New York Times ran a fascinating poll yesterday examining what Republican delegates believe, as compared to other Republicans, the public at large and their Democratic counterparts. The findings confirm that President Bush is no more out of touch than John McCain's delegates.




A quick sample of the beliefs of GOP delegates:

** 79 percent approve of President Bush's handling of the presidency.




** 57 percent believe the economy is doing "very or fairly good."




** 77 percent believe it's more important to keep taxes low rather than provide all Americans with healthcare coverage.




** 80 percent believe the US was right to invade Iraq.




** 75 percent believe developing new sources of energy is more important than protecting the environment (20 percent volunteered "both").




** 9 percent believe abortion should be generally available, while 38 percent advocated stricter limits and 43 percent said it should be illegal.




** The only surprising finding was that 6 percent believe in gay marriage and 43 percent believe in civil unions for gay couples, compared to 46 percent who believe there should be no legal recognition. Thus more Republican delegates support some kind of domestic partnership for gay couples than oppose it. Paging Larry Craig!

Tagged as: bush, rnc, republican delegates