Poll: Independent Voters Have Turned Against Obama, Democrats

Resurgent Republic, the polling organization formed by former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, pollster Whit Ayres, and others to survey the national mood on key issues finds opposition among swing voters to President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress has "calcified."

A national survey of 1,200 voters released Monday (with a sample made up of 800 Independents and 200 Republicans and Democrats each) found significant trouble for the party in power going into the November 2010 election.

Among the findings:

• Independents express overwhelming disappointment with the direction of the country and by a 2-to-1 margin hold an unfavorable opinion of President Obama and his job performance;
• The public’s disappointment with President Obama goes beyond the faltering economy, with many of them deeply concerned about his specific policies and the way he has governed, particularly his perceived failure to change the way Washington works;
• Independents continue to look more like Republicans than Democrats, most notably on government spending;
• Swing voters view President Obama as further to the left of Democrats in Congress on issues related to the proper role of the federal government;
• Support among Independents is highest for candidates who oppose stimulus spending and government bailouts, favor tax cuts to grow the economy, prioritize reducing the federal deficit, and believe “drastic change” is needed to redress a federal government that has gotten “out of control.”

"On health insurance, government spending, environmental regulation, and immigration enforcement," Resurgent Republic says, “Independents are more aligned with the conservative argument, which is also closer to their placement of congressional Republicans.” The critical voter bloc in the upcoming election, they also perceive Obama as "further to the left of congressional Democrats on health insurance, government spending, environmental regulation, and immigration enforcement."

The concerns expressed by Independents, on the other hand, generally marry up nicely to what the Republicans in Congress have been saying for much of the last two years. More Independents, the survey found, “favor individual responsibility in purchasing health insurance than those who support universal coverage provided by the federal government” and that the federal government “should do more to exercise fiscal discipline even in light of more spending to help the economy.”

The Democrats should also find alarming the news that nearly two-thirds of voters now believe the country is on “the wrong track,” including an astonishing 70 percent of those who call themselves “Independents.” Likely voters, the survey indicates, feel even more strongly, with “wrong track” drawing more support than “right direction” by a 65 percent to 27 percent margin.

• Check out our editorial cartoons on the 2010 campaigns.
• Follow the money in Congress.
• See a slide show of 5 key issues in the 2010 elections.

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