Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latest Dakota Free Press poll finds Hillary Clinton thumping Donald Trump. I asked Sunday morning, “How will you vote in the Presidential election?” I limited choices to those available on the South Dakota ballot. 226 of you (thank you!) provided the following responses:
- Clinton: 141 votes/62%
- Trump: 37 votes/16%
- Johnson: 23 votes/10%
- leaving Pres. line blank: 11 votes/5%
- Castle: 7 votes/3%
- write-in: 7 votes/3%
- not voting at all: 0 votes/0%
I am pleased to see poll participants promising 100% voter turnout… but I suppose folks who don’t plan to vote probably aren’t bothering to vote in online polls, either. But hey, non-voters, if you really want to cede political decision-making to those of us who read the blogs, we welcome your confidence in us.
I am further pleased to see that arguably sensible protest votes outnumber unconscionable Trump votes 21% to 16%. Support for Trump is based on denial, rage, and racism.
Interestingly, that 21% non-Democrat, non-GOP vote shows a notable spike in dissatisfaction with the two major parties’ nominees. In 2012, Gary Johnson pulled only 1.6% for the Libertarian ticket; Virgil Goode drew only 0.7% for the Constitution Party. A 21% South Dakota vote for third-party options would almost match Ross Perot’s 21.8% finish here in 1992. Perot pulled 9.9% in 1996; John Anderson won 6.5% in 1980. Otherwise, in recent modern votes, third parties in South Dakota have hung around margin-of-error 2% in South Dakota’s Presidential vote. In the woulda-coulda-shoulda world, it would have been interesting to see if a Larry Pressler or B. Thomas Marking could have parlayed this frustration into a strong 2016 challenge to Senator John Thune or Rep. Kristi Noem.
Regardless of your reader poll, Hillary is in jeopardy of losing this race in November due in part to her own unforced errors. Why in the world did she think she had to make her own “47%” comment knowing how that worked out for Willard Romney? Why did her campaign go into hiding for 8 hours when she collapsed due to pneumonia? Why does she refuse to travel with the press corps and to hold press conferences?
We have perhaps the two worst run presidential campaigns in history this year. Trump does nothing but spout BS every day, and Hillary, who is capable of giving serious and substantive speeches and interviews keeps feeding the conspiracy machine by hiding out. Meanwhile, a dangerous racist demagogue rises in the polls – including in swing states.
More BS from the Trump campaign today: Hire a lawyer to review the factual claims Melania made in her immigration papers and write a letter saying, “Yep, she claimed that so it must be true. And I’m a lawyer with no independent knowledge of the facts beyond what Melania said – so take my word for it.” The propaganda these folks come up with to generate headlines is beyond belief!
HRC was hauling the press around a week ago on her jet.
Mitt was full of $#I+ on his 47% nonsense. Hillary was and is spot on. Republicans have taken to Dr. Oz as their favorite doctor right now. I would love to see any one of them go under his knife for prostate surgery. Now they are making a big deal out of her fainting. At least she didn’t puke on the prez of Japan’s junk like Poppy Bush did. If ya ain’t fainting, ya ain’t living man. We have all taken a header before for one reason or another. W chocked on a pretzel (or so he says). When we take a look at serious journalism regarding his corruption, the media wants to see a report from Dr. Oz written on the back of a bar napkin.
@jerry: Whatever Clinton had was more than just a “faint” from dehydration or just “pneumonia”. Nobody, especially somebody who is 68, walks away an hour and half later waving and smiling with pneumonia. I had pneumonia when I was 19 and I was house bound for three days. It took at least 2 weeks to fully recover. Her “hipster” blue Zeiss sunglasses indicate that she has been having seizures of some sort.
Thank you, Witch Doctor Coyote.
Clinton’s only error was acting like she made an error. Of course, she only apologized for “half”, not “deplorable.” Stick with it, Hillary. Swing harder.
Coyote, are you familiar with the term “walking pneumonia?” I have never had it to my knowledge, but I thought it implied that a person is not house bound. Maybe they should be house bound.
I tend to think that much of the HRC health scrutiny is sexist or alternatively, just partisan. HRC’s looks, demeanor and physical stamina are questioned. At the same time, Trump looks like a bloated puffer fish and he can’t seem to remember what he said about an issue earlier in the same day. He also can’t seem to recall important details of his life like whether he has met Vladimir Putin or whether he knows who David Duke is. He has illusions of grandeur like when he claims that he knows more about ISIS than the generals do. He forgets that he has a secret plan to defeat ISIS and blurts out that he will ask the generals to come up with a plan to defeat ISIS. Recall these are the same generals that he claims know less about ISIS than him. So, why would he be asking them to come up with a plan when he already has a secret plan and knows more about ISIS than the generals? Trump has an obese BMI and is photographed eating fried chicken and fast food on his plane. He says that he does not exercise and does not like to exercise. Trump gets a letter from his doctor that claims he would be the healthiest president in history, which naturally raises the question of what is he overcompensating for or hiding? Now, who has more explaining to do about their health?
@Darin: I have heard of walking pneumonia since my wife had it last year. She missed work for a week but didn’t feel right for almost three. I slept in another bedroom. She certainly didn’t act like the Hilts did walking out of Chelsea’s crib. And if Hilts had walking pneumonia (which is bacterial and contagious) why was she chancing an exposure to her granddaughter?
I suspect my pneumonia was also walking pneumonia since they treated it with antibiotics which won’t work on viral pneumonias. But that was 45 years ago so ….
I have since been vaccinated with both available pneumonia vaccines and the boosters (only good for 5 years) but they don’t work on all flavors. Believe me, Hilts may have a type of pneumonia but I’m betting on something else causing her to freeze up and collapse.
@cah: So ‘splain to me why no one else in her entourage/posse are wearing shades? Is she just being hip? Cool? Maybe, but that’s Bubba’s job. She’s one sick puppy.
Coyote, health is a distraction for those who want to treat the Presidential election like a high school gossip session based on appearances and lazy guesswork rather than a discussion of serious policy affecting the lives of every human being on the planet. And when you pile “Trump obese” with “Clinton seizures” or whatever, the two complaints cancel each other out as discussion-worthy points and voting issues, and we must turn back to the glaringly obvious fact: Hillary Clinton is qualified by experience and detailed policy proposals, while Donald Trump is not.
That wasn’t HRC walking out of her daughter’s place. That was her secret body double.
I seriously doubt walking pneumonia-like any other malady, affects everyone the same. Her entourage had been dealing with it for two weeks. Personally, I think she finally collapsed under the weight of 40 years of lies about her and Bill.