{"id":6172,"date":"2016-09-13T12:44:06","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T18:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=6172"},"modified":"2016-09-13T12:44:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T18:44:06","slug":"buddhist-political-preferences-reader-poll-september-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/09\/buddhist-political-preferences-reader-poll-september-reporting.html","title":{"rendered":"Buddhist Political Preferences (Reader poll, September reporting)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This month our numbers are up a bit, with\u00a0178\u00a0(self-selected, online, non-randomized)\u00a0<\/strong>respondents answering questions about their political preferences in the upcoming US Presidential race. Once again, they roughly\u00a0matched\u00a0demographically with\u00a0previous months\u2019 polls, so we\u2019ll again jump right to the question of which candidate each respondent most supported:<\/p>\n

\"presidential<\/p>\n

This marks a small down-turn for Clinton, who last month had nearly 55% support.<\/p>\n

\"july-august<\/p>\n

This dip matches a number of polls that showed Clinton around 8% ahead of Trump in early August compared with just 2% today (according to real clear politics<\/a>). However, among readers surveyed here, the shift has not been to Trump but rather to both Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Trump has held steady at around 6% support.<\/p>\n

When asked about\u00a0why they support Clinton, the word \u201cexperience\u201d came out again and again.<\/strong> One simply put, \u201cExperience, values.\u201d Another wrote, \u201cA good fit overall, an experienced politician, and not a crazy racist demagogue.\u201d A third lauded her, \u201cExperience, intelligence, [and] tenacity\u201d while a fourth stated that she is the, \u201cMost dependable and experienced.\u201d Lastly, one respondent wrote, \u201cOf all the candidates since the start of the presidential campaign, Clinton is the one with the experience and ability to represent the United States best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Clinton supporters were less enthusiastic about her, but felt that Trump poses too great a threat;<\/strong> one writing, \u201cHilary has her problems (who doesn\u2019t), but she is most qualified to become our next president. Trump scares the hell out of me!\u201d Another simply put, \u201cNot Trump!\u201d In fact, Trump was mentioned by name in over a dozen of the Clinton\u00a0supporter\u2019s comments:<\/p>\n

\n