Count me in in the “none of the above” column

A new AP/Ipsos poll shows that the option for “none of the above” won out over all the GOP candidates in response to a question regarding who do you support right now in the race for the nomination. Via CNN:

The latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that nearly a quarter of Republicans are unwilling to back top-tier hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain or Mitt Romney, and no one candidate has emerged as the clear front-runner among Christian evangelicals. Such dissatisfaction underscores the volatility of the 2008 GOP nomination fight.

In sharp contrast, the Democratic race remains static, with Hillary Clinton holding a sizable lead over Barack Obama. The New York senator, who is white, also outpaces her Illinois counterpart, who is black, among black and Hispanic Democrats, according to a combined sample of two months of polls.

A half year before voting begins, the survey shows the White House race is far more wide open on the Republican side than on the Democratic. The uneven enthusiasm about the fields also is reflected in fundraising in which Democrats outraised Republicans $80 million to $50 million from April through June, continuing a trend from the year’s first three months.

“Democrats are reasonably comfortable with the range of choices. The Democratic attitude is that three or four of these guys would be fine,” David Redlawsk, a University of Iowa political scientist. “The Republicans don’t have that; particularly among the conservatives there’s a real split. They just don’t see candidates who reflect their interests and who they also view as viable.”

More Republicans have become apathetic about their options over the past month.

A hefty 23 percent can’t or won’t say which candidate they would back, a jump from the 14 percent who took a pass in June.

I haven’t been able to get excited about the “Big Three”: Rudy (lacking social conservative credentials), Mitt (who knows where he’ll stand on an issue from one day to the next?), and McCain (just don’t like him – and he won’t be a part of the “Big Three” for much longer, I suspect). I’m also not as keyed up about Fred Thompson as many other conservatives are for a number of reasons, like his stance on abortion – I’m not sure if it’s genuine, his position on immigration – which is somewhat of a reversal of the position he took when he was a Senator, as well as his continued teasing on whether or not he is going to ‘officially’ enter the race – while in the meantime all the other candidates are out there putting it on the line, have participated in debates, etc, while Fred continues to write op/eds and milk online support for what it’s worth. This might be ‘smart politics’ by getting people breathless with anticipation as to when he makes it official, but it’s not impressing me at all.

There’s no perfect candidate out there, I know, but I’m just not warming up to anyone in the top tier. I like Duncan Hunter and Mike Huckabee, but their campaigns are going nowhere fast, unfortunately. At this point, I am an undecided voter, or, as the poll put it, in the “none of the above” camp.

Related: Speaking of Fred Thompson, Mark Levin has a must-read up today about how the media treats the wives of Republican candidates different from the wives of Democrat candidates, in response to the bubble-headed attack the NYT made on Thompson’s wife Jeri a couple of weeks ago.

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