Scary John McCain Numbers

Tagan Goddard's Political Wire runs a headline stating "Poll Suggests Trouble for McCain in 2008" while siting a Gallup Poll that actually seems more scary for Democrats.

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain "typically vie for the lead in Republican preference polls, but a greater percentage of Republicans say they would find Giuliani acceptable than say this about McCain (73% to 55%)." In fact, 4 in 10 Republicans "say they would not find McCain to be an acceptable GOP presidential nominee."

However, McCain's "strength as a presidential candidate would be in his cross-party appeal if he were able to secure the Republican nomination. Independents (55%) and Democrats (56%) are about as likely as Republicans (59%) to view McCain favorably... Thus, McCain could be a very formidable candidate in the general election, but may have difficulty winning the Republican nomination."

Emphasis Mine.

Is it just me, or does the fact that more Democrats than Independents view McCain favorably scare the bejesus out of you? How have Independents been more successful in smelling the "McCain the Maverick" bullshit? Should he get the nomination, McCain seems the early favorite for winning in 2008. It would take a lot of re-education of voters to clear the misconception that McCain is less Right-Wing-Fundie than Bush.

John McCain 2008 Gallup Poll