Democratic voters may have mixed feelings about their party's candidates for the presidency, but they are united on another point: they don't like the nomination process.
This point was made with absolute clarity in a New York Times/CBS poll that ran on page one of the May 1 Times: "Fifty-one percent of Democratic primary voters say they expect Mr. Obama to win their party’s nomination, down from 69 percent a month ago." In contrast, the percentage of Democratic voters who expect Hillary Clinton to win the nomination climbed in the same period from 21% to 34%.
The Times interpreted such results as a sign that recent weeks have taken a toll on Obama. But the really striking statistic is voters' views on the nomination process. The survey polled Democrats, but I can imagine independents and Republicans responding similarly.
"Has the campaign focused too much on personal attributes like race and gender?"
Too much 63%
About right 31%
Not enough 3%
"Does the current system of nominating presidential candidates produce the best candidates?
Yes 39%
No 55%
With results like that, the politicians, journalists, fundraisers, advertisers and political consultants who produce our primaries should to take a lesson: change the system or get out of the way. Nothing less than the health of our democracy is at stake.
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