For today's Daily Poll we wanted to know how Rush Limbaugh's comments affected your view of the GOP. Nearly 20% said that he made you less likely to vote Republican, and many respondents also used the opportunity to condemn the embattled talk radio host.
Only 3% of our respondents expressed a positive view of Limbaugh.
Because of the overwhelming response, we'd like to encourage you to keep voting throughout the day. If you haven't had a chance to weigh in, you can vote via Facebook on the question "How do Rush Limbaugh's comments affect your view of the GOP?"
The top four results so far:
No effect. I still plan to vote Democrat. 31%
Limbaugh makes me less inclined to vote Republican. 19%
No effect. I still plan to vote Republican. 13%
Offended by Limbaugh. Will still vote as a Democrat. 8%
The remaining half of the vote was split among many creative write-in answers, most of which expressed outrage at Limbaugh in some form.
Comments were very heated. Some suggested that Limbaugh needed to be removed from the airwaves:
Guest I thought Mr. Imus deserved his punishment a few years back, and I hope the same thing happens to Mr. Limbaugh. As for the GOP, I am disgusted by their cowardice, especially Mr. Romney's. However, I also believe in restoring "19th century values" (such as chivalry, the OPPOSITE of Mr. Limbaugh's remarks) so I haven't yet ruled out voting for a GOP candidate for President for the first time in my life.
Another respondent hoped that this incident could lead to a greater respect for truth and facts. Martha F. reminded us that Limbaugh was not only tone deaf, but he was also factually incorrect about the content of the testimony he criticized:
Martha F. What I hope is that this uproar over Rush's remarks will spark not only a call for more civil discourse but also a renewed respect for truth in our arguments. Rush Limbaugh not only showed astonishing incivility in his comments, but also ignorance of Ms. Fluke's actual testimony (as well as incredible ignorance of how hormonal birth control works) or he would acknowledge that her testimony was not about "personal sexual recreational activities" (as he put it in his “apology”). As Ms. Fluke testified, in many cases birth control is used for medical reasons other than preventing pregnancy, and is one important, sometimes critical, reason that contraception should be included in insurance coverage. If conservatives had spent last week arguing legitimate points re: insurance, what religious institutions should be required to cover, etc. instead of attacking the (dignified and gracious) messenger and justifiably earning the epithet “misogynists”, perhaps they would be looking as good as Sandra Fluke right now.A transcript of her testimony is not hard to find on the web.
Some respondents pointed out that the GOP had to be held accountable for failing to contain its worst excesses:
Solo4114 His comments don't much affect my view of the current iteration of the GOP. Those who came out against him, I think, did the right thing. Those like Darrel Issa who sought to distract or turn this into an "Oh yeah?! Well YOUR side does blah blah BLAH!" situation miss the point entirely and pretty much confirm my worst views of those elements of the GOP. But as far as the party as a whole is concerned, the debt ceiling hostage taking was, for me, the nadir for the party.
There was also a minority of respondents who did think that Rush was being held to an unfair standard:
Stephen B. Why not ask whether idiots like Ed Schultz make us less likely to vote Democrat?
