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Poll: McCain holds edge on patriotism

By: Alexander Burns
August 20, 2008
The Politico

The public views Sen. John McCain as more patriotic than his opponent, Sen.
Barack Obama, even though it prefers the way Obama talks about patriotism,
according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, found that 74 percent of
respondents saw McCain as patriotic, compared to just 56 percent who said
the same of Obama.

But when respondents were read two excerpts of Obama and McCain’s comments
describing their feelings about the United States, Obama’s statement came
out ahead by a 52-41 percent margin.

“Out of the gate, John McCain is identified by voters as more patriotic, but
what’s interesting is that when voters hear different conceptions of
patriotism, in the candidates’ own words, Obama’s more forward-looking
version significantly beats McCain’s,” said Nick Hanauer, a co-founder of
the True Patriot Network, a liberal organization that commissioned the
survey.

The poll tested 1000 adults between August 12-14, with a margin of error of
plus or minus 3.1 percent.

Throughout the campaign Obama has been dogged by questions and
unsubstantiated rumors about his views on flag and country, most recently
stemming from his response to a seven-year-old girl who asked him why he’s
running for president.

“America is no longer what it could be, what it once was,” Obama said. “And
I say to myself: I don’t want that future for my children.”

Conservatives, especially on the talk radio airwaves, have criticized this
response as insufficiently patriotic. Broadcaster Rush Limbaugh said Obama’s
comment was tantamount to saying: “The country stinks.”

Obama has consistently rejected suggestions that he lacks patriotic spirit,
but doubts among voters have endured and a recent Los Angeles
Times/Bloomberg poll showed that 35 percent of voters said they had concerns
about Obama’s patriotism. Only nine percent said they were worried about
McCain’s.

Eric Liu, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton who
co-founded the True Patriot Network with Hanauer, said Obama has not been
forceful enough in conveying a message on patriotism.

“It is not something that Obama has particularly, persistently, or
effectively, really done,” Liu said.

“What’s encouraging to us is that he’s beginning to find his voice on
patriotism,” he added, “What this poll suggests is there is some urgency to
that.”

On June 30, Obama gave a speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo.,
attempting to place his political views in the context of an American
historical tradition and describing acts of patriotism by George Washington,
Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Martin Luther King, Jr., as
inspirational.

“What makes America great has never been its perfection but the belief that
it can be made better,” Obama said in his address. “I came to understand
that our revolution was waged for the sake of that belief.”

Judging by the results of the True Patriot Network poll, this could be a
compelling message: by a margin of 58 to 38 percent, respondents said
patriotism is about “actively working to improve America,” more than about
“honoring what is great about America.”

But according to Hanauer, Obama’s efforts to this point have not adequately
advanced a liberal patriotic narrative.

“He’s tipped his hat in this direction,” Hanauer said, “but he has by no
means forcefully articulated” a progressive version of patriotism.

McCain, on the other hand, has taken up patriotism as an essential theme of
his campaign. His campaign announced Wednesday that the theme of the
Republican National Convention will be “Country First” – a phrase McCain and
his surrogates have often used on the campaign trail as a way of
articulating the Republican candidate’s view of public service.

“I will always, always, always put my country first. I have done that from
the time I was in prison and was offered a chance to go home before my
comrades,” McCain said in Ohio on August 7, alluding to his experience as a
prisoner of war in Vietnam.

“[McCain’s] biography and his undeniably admirable service make ‘Country
First’ reverberate,” said Liu. “Weaving together the story of the country
and the story of a candidate is the essence of successful politics.”

But Liu also argued that McCain’s rhetoric left him vulnerable to questions
about the public policy implications of his brand of patriotism.

“It opens up the line of attack from Obama to say, if you believe in
‘Country First,’ then you don’t believe in further reducing the tax burden
for the wealthiest among us,” he added.

The poll also provides a word of caution to both presidential candidates: 76
percent of those surveyed said politicians often “invoke patriotism in a
cheap and empty way.”