But what about the high negatives BOTH have? The stats I’ve seen (and I do realize stats are notoriously unreliable)give HRC negatives of 47% nationwide-that’s people who say they WILL NOT vote for he, no matter what. BHO’s negs are 38%. Won’t combining both into one package (whether HRC + BHO, or BHO+ HRC) just exacerbate this? Wouldn’t either one have a better shot of taking the presidency if either candidate chooses an uncontroversial, barely known nationally white male governor, or somesuch? As for the feelings of “betrayal” the followers of whoever is passed over, the DNC counts on those people to ‘rally’ behind whoever’s on the ballot come November-I think the chances of that happening is at LEAST as likely as angry conservatives voting for John McCain, especially if either BHO or HRC is the nominee.
Republicans are more likely to vote against Clinton and/or Obama than Democrats are to vote against McCain, or at least stay home. Many see McCain as a moderate.
That’s what I meant by saying the candidates’ weaknesses would be magnified by having them both on the ticket. You’re absolutely right-—their combined negatives would be horrific.
However, the question is whether that would translate to a meaningful increase in the number of people not voting for the ticket.
IOW, would there be enough of an increase in the number of voters who wouldn’t vote for the ticket to make a difference?
Or would about the same number of people who wouldn’t vote for one or the other before just *really, really, really* not want to vote for the ticket now?
I don’t know the answer to that, but my sense is that the combination would deepen the loathing in many people, but be the “last straw” against the ticket for a much smaller number of people.
(Remember, Obama and the Beast are both acceptable to their base on their policies. They only part ways on likeability issues.)
OTOH, regardless of which spot he has on the ticket, say Obama is able to increase turn-out in the black community by a large percentage, this in itself may compensate for the fewer voters who won’t hold their nose to vote for Hildy even if they like Obama.
Hildy may have a similar effect on turn-out of senior women. There may be many more of them willing to vote for her regardless of her spot on the ticket, compared to the number of voters who won’t hold their nose to vote for her because they don’t like Obama.
So while their negatives may cause a chunk of voters in the middle to drop out, each candidate possibly could increase turn-out in their own bases to compensate for the middle-voter drop-outs.
Just my thoughts.