Breaking Down McCain’s Republican Support And Opposition

My Top 3

As you know, not all Republicans are excited about John McCain this year.

With that said, I still think . There will be no “Obama Republicans” that result in a chunk of Republican support for him. There could be a few percentage points, but that is about it.

Frequently visiting conservative and libertarian message boards, blogs or forums, I have noticed that Republicans are supporting McCain (or not) for various reasons. While nearly all of them will support McCain, they do so for different motives and reasons. A very small number oppose McCain for two primary reasons.

A breakdown:

While there are few minor differences, this group loves McCain and will support him to the final days. They admire him as a “Maverick” Republican, or a difference maker. They love his character, his story and him personally. These are folks who are rock solid with McCain.

The war is a very, very powerful issue for many. That is the case for many Republicans. The war is very important and McCain has definitely been a warrior. This group sees McCain as the military man who supported the surge and will not lose the war in Iraq. They believe Obama will pull out too quickly. The war, and only the war, is what matters to this group.

In other words, the less of two evils type of voter. This is usually my portion, but not this year. These voters have lots of reasons to dislike McCain – whether its fiscal issues, his lack of fire on social issues that upsets the Evangelicals or his maverickness against the Republican Party and respect towards Democrats. But he is still not as bad as Obama in this group’s eyes. These see that McCain is against a federal amendment on gay marriage and is for stem-cell research. However, he is against abortion. Obama is pro-choice, thus making him the “eviler of two evils.”

For some, the “R” truly matters, no matter how bad of a Republican he maybe. Traditional Republicans will vote Republican and there is a good, healthy chunk of McCain supporters that fall in this group.

Not just picking on Republicans. A larger portion of Democrats will probably for Obama just because of his race. However, this is still a limited portion of residents in this nation who do not trust a black one as president. It is very small but they could vote for McCain just because of that.

Of the 5-10 percent of Republicans who will oppose McCain, I notice two groups:

The one issue that really hits McCain from the right is illegal immigration. Easily. There are a handful of people on the right who will stay home and not vote for McCain because of illegal immigration. I am sure there are Evangelicals who are bitter that he is for stem-cell research and against a federal amendment for gay marriage prevention.

My department. I refuse to vote for the less of two evils this year. Obama and McCain are just too much similar. Other than the war, both are too much the same for me. A McCain win would render fiscal conservatives useless in the process. McCain is not conservative on fiscal matters. He is a big-government, big-spending and government handout supporting Republican. Him winning would utterly destroy the fiscal conservative’s cause and movement.