Via WSJ:
A new comprehensive national survey shows that independent voters—who voted for Barack Obama by a 52%-to-44% margin in the 2008 presidential election—are now moving strongly in the direction of the Republican Party. The survey, conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC on behalf of Independent Women's Voice in late August, raises the possibility of a fundamental realignment of independent voters and the dominance of a more conservative electorate.
Today, independents say they lean more toward the Republican Party than the Democratic Party, 50% to 25%, and that the Republican Party is closer to their views by 52% to 30%. This movement comes in spite of independents' generally negative views of the GOP—a majority of independents (54%) view the Republicans unfavorably, compared to 39% who have a favorable impression. (The poll also revealed that 48% of independents were either "sympathetic to or supporters of the tea party.")
Yet Republicans still have a 14-point lead overall among independents who say they intend to vote in the upcoming congressional elections (37% to 23%). Forty percent remain undecided.
Independents who say they are certain to vote in the upcoming election break better than two-to-one for the Republicans, 42% to 20%. (The poll consisted of 1,000 respondents who said they were absolutely certain or very likely to vote.). These figures suggest that if the Republican message is compelling enough, the 14-point margin can grow based on turnout. But to achieve that, Republicans need a positive message.
Follow-up interviews of 400 independents from our original poll after Christine O'Donnell's victory last week in the Delaware GOP Senate primary show further deterioration of the Democratic position. The Republican lead in the upcoming congressional election has reached 22 points, 40% to 18%, with all likely-to-vote independents. It is 23 points among those who say they are certain to vote (45% to 22%). Independents also strongly support continuation of the Bush tax cuts for all Americans, as well as oppose any additional infrastructure spending.
What all this means is that Independents do not love the Republican Party, but they sure as hell do despise what Democrats controlling Congress and the Senate and then the White House, has done.
That ladies and gentlemen, is a statement.
Read the whole piece at Wall Street Journal.
Side Note- Notice the portion I put in bold above,where 48 percent of Independents were wither sympathetic or supporters of the Tea Party.
Then read the NYT piece, which the White House is vehemently denying, reporting that their is an internal White House debate on whether or not Democrats should try to "tie" the Tea Party to the GOP.
Tie away dude!!!!!
Since the Tea Party began, just a couple years ago, the Left has claimed they were "AstroTurfing", tried to claim they were racist, extremists, have dedicated an incredible amount of ink to trying to destroy them etc.... and yet the number of those sympathetic to the Tea Party message and those actively supporting them has risen and continues to grow.
The deeper the Democrats get into the hole, the more they just keep digging. Someone once told me that when you notice you are digging so deep you might not be able to crawl out of the hole, it is time to put the shovel down.
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