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Republican Crossovers Casting Votes For Democrats

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The New York Times

Published: May 3, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - Until now, Shirley Morgan had always been the kind of voter the Republican Party thought it could count on. She comes from a family of staunch Republicans, has a son in the military and has supported Republican presidential candidates ever since she cast her first ballot, for Richard Nixon in 1972.

This year, however, Morgan exemplifies a different breed: the Republican crossing over to vote in the Democratic primary. Not only will she mark her ballot for Sen. Barack Obama in the May 6 primary here, but she has also been canvassing for him in the heavily Republican suburbs of Hamilton County, just north of Indianapolis. It is the first time she has ever actively campaigned for a candidate.

"I used to like John McCain, but he's aligning himself too closely with what Bush did, and that's just not what I want for this country," said Morgan, 56, when asked to explain her rejection of the presumptive Republican nominee.

Since the start of the primary and caucus season in January, Republican voters have been crossing over in increasing numbers to vote in Democratic contests - they've supplied up to 10 percent of the vote in states that allow such crossover voting - and they are expected to play a pivotal role in the fiercely contested primary in the Hoosier State.

What is less clear, however, is the motivation for their behavior: Are they genuinely attracted by the two Democratic candidates? Or are they mischief-making spoilers, looking to prolong a divisive Democratic fight or support a candidate McCain can beat in November?

Republican Party leaders in Indiana concede the attraction of the Democratic candidates to some of their party members. Interviews with roughly a dozen Republican voters in central Indiana also suggest they are driven mainly by concerns about the economy, with discontent over Bush administration policies driving their involvement in the Democratic race.

"Much as I like John McCain as a war hero, I am fearful he does not have the depth of experience to fix the economy," said Darlene Boatman, 62, a just-retired sales clerk who favors Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We're all struggling here to make ends meet. I haven't had health care coverage in about 10 years and jobs are fewer and farther between. The economy is my biggest concern, and I think Hillary has the best understanding of how to pull off the recovery we need."

The drift has given some comfort to Democrats worried about the searing divisions in their party. Surveys of voters leaving the polls and official vote tabulations indicate that both Obama, of Illinois, and Clinton, of New York, have benefited from the Republican crossover vote, though to different degrees and in patterns that vary by state.

Initially, Obama seemed to be getting the bulk of the vote, attracting moderate Republicans who quickly came to be known as Obamacans and lacing his stump speeches with references to them. More recently, Clinton's share of the crossover vote has grown.

In Wisconsin's Feb. 19 contest, for example, Obama got about three-quarters of the votes cast by those identifying themselves as Republicans. In Texas' March 4 primary, though, he and Clinton split the Republican vote almost evenly, while in Mississippi on March 11, she outpolled him among Republicans by a 3-1 margin.

Even some states without open primaries seem to have experienced crossover voting. In the Pennsylvania vote on April 22, voter surveys indicated that about 5 percent of those voting in the Democratic primary were Republicans who switched their party registration; they split their vote almost evenly between the two candidates.

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