Q: How satisfied are you with the way John McCain has waged his presidential campaign since wrapping up the nomination?

Republicans (85 votes)

Very satisfied         33 percent
Somewhat satisfied     40 percent
Somewhat dissatisfied  20 percent
Very dissatisfied       7 percent

Very satisfied

"He appears to have solidified his party base, shored up his cash, staked out detailed positions on a range of issues. Importantly, he has begun to draw differences with the administration in key areas. This is vital if we are to have a chance in November."

"He's doing most things right: reaching out to ex-adversaries, going into nontraditional areas, keeping the heat on Barack, remaining active, and appearing fit. [There has been an] occasional pandering misstep, e.g., gas-tax holiday, but overall a sound performance."

"If John McCain wins the presidency, I think we may say he won it between March and June. We've nominated the only Republican who could win this year, and the Democrats will nominate the only candidate who could lose."

"The Democrats have done a good job of uniting our base. And McCain has basically let them do it. Republicans are actually beginning to think we can win, which was not the case six months ago."

Somewhat satisfied

"He's doing OK, but not great. Reintroducing himself is good, but the campaign seems like they are running primary fights and not a broad-gauged, bold, campaign for change in America. Bush is, after all, at 28 percent [job approval]."

"He hasn't made any big mistakes, and he's pulled even in the polls, so it's hard to complain. But he's still losing too many conservatives, and [his campaign's] tours seem more like vanity projects than gaining much political benefit."

"He's doing a lot of things right. But his most important goal is protecting his independent, 'different-kind-of-a-Republican' brand. And the gas-tax holiday idea looks a lot more like a typical politician than a straight-talking truth-teller."

"The two areas he needs to shore up fast are his campaign finances and his ability to talk comfortably and soundly on the economy."

"He has managed to lay out some clear positions and not get in the way of the Democratic candidates killing each other. But the campaign still feels disorganized, like it's running at 50 percent, and it is still failing to inspire the base much."

"The policy team is not yet tightly wrapped. We are seeing some seemingly random policy priorities rolled out in odd geographic locations."

"Not really motivating me to put up the campaign signs up yet."

"They've done a good job of unifying the party. The question remains whether they take it to the next step and articulate a message that will play in a year when voters are demanding change."

"No mistakes, but not very relevant either."

Somewhat dissatisfied

"They've blown six weeks, stumbling around. Finance operation is disorganized. Still no general election message."

"Not sure if McCain has taken advantage of the Democratic disarray. He is talking too much about himself and not enough about the voters."

"Conservatives seemed to hop right into bed with him without much fuss--not enough conservative concessions or rightward improvements. That allowed him to revert to vintage McCain."

"Haven't a clue what he would do as president. He needs a new and bold agenda. This is Bob Dole '96 all over again."

Very dissatisfied

"Nationally, they are not raising money, they are not gaining momentum, they are not well prepared. If you could see what I see in a key battleground state, you'd see little organization with no one at the helm, and no genuine effort to involve the teams of their primary opponents: a recipe for losing a winnable state in November."

"The money's not coming together. The message isn't very clear. The policy they've rolled out is boring. The money's not coming together. There's no move toward building any sort of online counterforce to the Democrats. Oh, and the money's not coming together."

GOP Political Insiders
Dan Allen, Stan Anderson, Gary Andres, Saulius (Saul) Anuzis, Rich Ashooh, Whit Ayres, Brett Bader, Mitch Bainwol, Gary Bauer, David Beckwith, Wayne Berman, Charlie Black, Kirk Blalock, Carmine Boal, Jeff Boeyink, Ron Bonjean, Jeff Buley, Luke Byars, Nick Calio, Danny Carroll, Ron Christie, Jim Cicconi, Cesar Conda, Jake Corman, Greg Crist, Diane Crookham-Johnson, Fergus Cullen, Rick Davis, Mike Dennehy, Ken Duberstein, Steve Duprey, Debi Durham, Frank Fahrenkopf, John Feehery, Don Fierce, Carl Forti, Alex Gage, Sam Geduldig, Benjamin Ginsberg, David Girard-diCarlo, Bill Greener, Jonathan Grella, Lanny Griffith, Janet Mullins Grissom, Doug Gross, Todd Harris, Steve Hart, Christopher Healy, Ralph Hellmann, Chris Henick, Terry Holt, David Iannelli, Clark Judge, David Keating, David Kensinger, Bruce Keough, Bob Kjellander, Ed Kutler, Chris Lacivita, Jim Lake, Chuck Larson, Steve Lombardo, Joel Maiola, Gary Maloney, David Marin, Mary Matalin, Dan Mattoon, Bill McInturff, Mark McKinnon, Kyle McSlarrow, Ken Mehlman, Jim Merrill, Mike Murphy, Phil Musser, Ron Nehring, Terry Nelson, Neil Newhouse, David Norcross, Ziad Ojakli, Jack Oliver, Van B. Poole, Tom Rath, Scott Reed, David Rehr, Steve Roberts, Jason Roe, David Roederer, Ed Rogers, Dan Schnur, Russ Schriefer, Rich Schwarm, Brent Seaborn, Rick Shelby, Andrew Shore, Don Sipple, Robin Smith, Javier Soto, Fred Steeper, Bob Stevenson, Eric Tanenblatt, Heath Thompson, Jay Timmons, Warren Tompkins, Ted Van Der Meid, Dirk van Dongen, Jan van Lohuizen, Dick Wadhams, John Weaver, Tom Wilson, Dave Winston, Ginny Wolfe, and Fred Wszolek.

Failing to nominate Clinton         23 percent 
Failing to nominate Obama           72 percent
Depends; no difference (volunteered) 5 percent