Yesterday Todd highlighted an interesting part of the latest Washington Post poll of Viginians: By a 52 percent to 41 percent margin, registered voters in the state would rather see a Democrat than a Republican in the White House. These numbers mirror the Democrats' big lead nationally in generic presidential ballot polling.
As we all know, campaigns are not about generic candidates, however -- they are about actual named candidates. Here, interestingly, the Republicans' problems are seemingly just as large. Looking at the most recent national survey conducted for The Post and ABC News, a couple of interesting numbers jump out. Among adults nationwide, 57 percent say that they would definitely not vote for Mitt Romney were he to garner the GOP nomination, and another 54 percent say they would definitely not vote for Fred Thompson. Naturally, situations can change over time, but these numbers look awfully bad, particularly for two candidates whose name recognition isn't yet universal. Within Virginia, a state carried by every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, 53 percent of registered voters say they wouldn't vote for Romney as the Republican nominee. These numbers compare with under 45 percent for each of the three leading Democrats in Virginia and 43 percent or under nationwide.
It's worth nothing that campaigns are not fought in a vacuum, and that voters choose between two candidates. Still, the fact that so many voters, both nationwide and even in the traditionally stalwart Republican state of Virginia, are unwilling to vote for two of the three leading Republican candidates for the presidency is terrible news for the GOP.
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