Which gives you more anxiety, primary or general?

[Robb]

Poll question: Which gives you more anxiety, primary or general?

Which is giving you more anxiety right now, the primaries or the general election? And why?

[maddezmom]

1. general

why, Jim Baker and Karl Rove.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

8. The general is easy to decide - vote D

the primary is the only election that matters.

[Bread and Circus]

2. The Primaries...

I think that the diehard Democratic base can be a little
prejudiced against Clark because of his military background.
However, in the GE I think this will serve as his greatest
strength.

Also, he has formidable opponents in the Primaries whereas
Bush is a terd.

[JI7]

3. the general elections scares me

because that's the "final judgement" and has the ability to actually put a right winger into office. so the risks are much greater. with the primary we are voting for a candidate to run in the final election so you don't actually lose much at that point since the final decision and purpose of running someone has not been made yet. it's the first stage towards a larger goal.

[SheilaT]

4. The gloves will come off

in the general election. No matter who gets the nomination, that man has plenty of negatives and flaws to be exploited.

Expect the Republicans to not only vilify the Democratic nominee, but to hint (maybe even state outright) that anyone who considers voting for anyone other than W is at best unpatriotic, and possibly even treasonous. That's just for starters.

I believe that almost any Democrat would win in a free, fair, and honest election, but I don't expect a free, fair, and honest election. Will there be exit polling? I doubt it. Will there be a paper trail? I doubt it.

I just hope I'm wrong.

[nuxvomica]

5. The GE cuz I'm scared of what the BFEE will do to win

Either I'll be frustrated by all the pro-Bush/anti-Dem press coverage or public opinion will rally around the Dem candidate and the BFEE will have to pull of some "stunt" to get it back.

I'm also annoyed that there's no "Robb is a dingbat" choice.

[mmonk]

6. primaries

because the attacks on Clark would probably stick more with dem primary voters (the military thing) vs. the general election where Clark can really score against bush.

[Kathleen04]

7. Voted general

Because that's the one that really counts.

All our candidates are good, but I'm also having anxiety about the primaries, because I think the outcome in the primary will effect the the outcome of the GE.

But, the primaries are only first hurdle..the GE is our opportunity to oust Bush* or deal 4 more years.

[pocoloco]

9. The general is gonna be a bitch that necessitates nominating

the candidate with the best/only chance to beat bush*!

[Sinistrous]

10. The General Election gives me hives

In the Democratic primary, I know a good person will win, because all of them (save one, whom I don't think has a chance)are exceptional people. However, in the general election, there is an altogether too strong a possibility that a "man", among whose crimes mass-murder is merely a footnote, may be returned to office.

[forgethell]

11. General

nobody on the D side polls to beat *. That may change, but we're going into half-time way behind.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. We are gonna beat Bush

I am sure of that. So my anxiety is over the primaries and making sure we put forward the best candidate we can.

[rucky]

13. Almost Everybody Who's Worried About The Primaries Now

Has expressed absolute fear of the General Election. They've found comfort in latching onto whatever candidate they chose. Their fear has made it imperative - in their minds - for their candidate to win. Conversly, disastarous if the other guy wins.

We do ourselves a huge disservice when we latch onto a false sense of security. Almost everybody here is intelligent & everybody wants to beat Bush, but we've all picked different candidates. That leads me to believe that there is no one candidate who has a better chance of beating Bush than any other candidate. There's not much need for in-depth analysis, because there's absolutely no way to predict the outcome based on anything. Just like any second-term election, 90% of it is about the incumbent - a vote for or against Bush.

So I'm anxious about the General election, but survive this forum - and even have fun in it - because I'm not anxious at all about the primary. Every candidate can distinguish themselves from Bush - even Lieberman. The Bush camp will see to that. Every candidate would be susceptable to the Rove smear machine. The media will be against us, no matter who we nominate.

On the up-side: IF we can all get behind the nominee... IF we all commit to getting voters to the polls... IF we all assume the role of watchdogs against media distortions & fixed elections... We WILL win.

That's alot of IF's, but soon there will only be one Democrat we can get behind. There are people who say they will simply "hold their nose and vote", or not vote at all if Candidate X gets the nomination. I call their bluff. It's easy to say that in a field of 8 - with the drama heightening every day.

And if we do pout & retreat, we deserve what we'll get.

[Hep]

14. Primaries. At least in the general I know who my enemies are.

No republican has ever shown me the kind of disrespect I've seen in this forum, and I've been stalked.

[Spirochete]

15. Hey!

Where's the "dingbat" option on this poll?

[Constitution]

16. If Dean gets the nomination, Bush has already won.

Count the number of people who vote for Dean in the primaries and if it is not 59 million, then he hasn't got a chance. I know where the media will take this and Dean is the one candiate whose vote totals will go down between the primaries and the general election.