The entire purpose of this diary is the poll, designed to better understand the nature of community opinion toward Obama and Clinton. Some people seem happy with both candidates. Others love one and seem to really dislike the other. Some dislike both, including a few who dislike both intensely. It puzzles me (although it shouldn’t) that opinion varies so widely, and to be honest I have a hard time understanding some of the positions that people take.
There is nothing here except what might be written in the comments. So go for it! All I can say is that I think it will help us to better understand ourselves if we can gauge whether dKos opinion toward each of our two candidates is predominantly positive, neutral, or negative. My intention is not to give one candidate a boost, for I know that Obama is more popular at dKos right now, and so does everybody else, and I expect the polls to reflect that. Rather, by choosing very specific poll options, what I really hope to capture is the mindset of our community. Are we as enthusiastic as we seem to think we are? Does that carry over to both candidates? Is this merely a Democratic contest for the presidential nomination, and all that goes with that, or is there something larger afoot here?
A humble plea: Try not to turn this diary into a candidate war. If you can’t explain your position without being provocative, then so be it, but try and at least be civil.
A final note: If you object to the "love" / "like" / "dislike" / "hate" language on what you feel should be a question of policy, issues, and strategy, then you are not alone and I am sorry that I could not provide more poll options. In that case, please treat the words roughly like this:
Love = mostly admire their policy, positions, stature, viability, etc.
Like = admire some but not all of the above
Hate = mostly disagree with their policy, positions, stature, viability, etc.
Dislike = disagree with some but not all of the above