Amid the pins, buttons and banners touting the candidates vying for the presidential seat in today’s election, some voters have carried a distinct message throughout the political season: the “Anybody but Bush” slogan.
Since the Democratic primaries, it has become a popular mantra in the streets of downtown Madison and throughout the country.
Although the “ABB” phenomenon has caught on greatly, it has left some students and politicians concerned with the motive behind it.
“I really think it isn’t right,” UW student William Gillespie said. “It seems like the ‘cool’ thing to do these days, and everyone’s joining the bandwagon. I know so many people who swear they hate Bush but can’t name one legitimate reason why.”
After what some saw as an unfair and erroneous election in 2000, many Democrats have since looked forward to booting President George W. Bush out of office. The animosity continued into the Democratic primaries, where Democratic citizens and politicians sought to nominate the one candidate who could defeat Bush, UW professor of political science Charles Franklin said.
“I think there was an awful lot of discussion in the primaries about electibility,” Franklin said. “The Democrats didn’t want to just nominate an ideological purist. They wanted to nominate someone who could beat Bush.”
The “Anybody but Bush” slogan has garnered the attention of the media. But some are questioning whether Kerry supporters are more strongly against Bush than they are for Kerry.
“The main thing that you are seeing clearly this year among Democrats is that there is a lot of dislike for Bush. I think it’s something on the order of 40 percent say that, while 50 or 60 percent are strongly for Kerry,” Franklin said.
The Democrats insist, however, that most voters are strongly behind Kerry and that the “Anybody but Bush” motto, while catchy, is not the true feeling in the party.
“‘Anybody but Bush’ was a really popular slogan back during the presidential primary season, but Democrats on this campus are so pro-Kerry. There is such unity in our party. There is strong support for John Kerry,” Liz Sanger, Chair for the College Democrats, said.
The phenomenon has garnered concern from politicians about the survival of third parties in the political system, specifically independent candidate Ralph Nader, in this election. Some of Nader’s supporters believe that the polarization against Bush is not only hurting Nader, but others as well.
“It’s hurting not just the Nader campaign, but it’s hurting movements that care about the war in Iraq because people are making no demands on John Kerry,” Bill Linville, state coordinator for the Nader campaign, said.
Linville said he believes that many current movements in the country are backing a candidate that really doesn’t stand for their interests.
