QUOTE(Sxeptomaniac @ Thu 14th April 2011, 4:03pm)
It's not really even the process, IMO. It's the mind-numbingly bureaucratic participants, the popularity-contest nature of the thing, and the blatantly myopic denials of the obvious: "It's not a vote" and "Adminship is no big deal" were frequently cited whenever it became too apparent that everyone believes the opposite.
Yeah. A user might say that "adminship is no big deal" to support a candidate who's getting some opposition for inexperience. But that same user might turn around and oppose another candidate for not having enough experience to be trusted with adminship. As you say, it's a popularity contest.
As for "it's not a vote," the only thing that separates RfA from a straight vote is the fact that all the other voters can see your vote and try to harass you into changing it. On many occasions, I've seen supporters try to suppress opposing opinions by calling for them to be removed from the count.