Independents Turn Out Big Time for the GOP

The Gaggle

RSS

Author

Katie Connolly

Ben Adler

Jonathan Alter

Columnist Page

Eleanor Clift

Columnist Page |
Email

Eve Conant

Howard Fineman

Columnist Page

Sarah Kliff

Email |
Twitter

Andrew Romano

Daniel Stone

Featured Postings

A GOP Plan for Deficit Reduction

9:00 AM, February 9, 2010 | Comments (5)

I've been hard on congressional Republicans recently for pandering to voters' ignorance by offering politically appealing but irresponsible slogans instead of a credible conservative vision of how to meet America's challenges, even those they harp on...

The Press Evinces Soft Bigotry Against Republicans─By Not Expecting Them to Govern

1:05 PM, February 1, 2010 | Comments (21)

Conservatives React to State of the Union With Sneers and Jeers

11:50 PM, January 27, 2010 | Comments (18)

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Holly Bailey

A major story tonight is how independent voters turned out strongly for Republicans this Election Day, a not-so-encouraging sign that Democrats have lost touch with a voting bloc considered pivotal to Barack Obama’s win in 2008 and the party’s recapture of Congress in 2006. If exit polls are to be believed—and we know sometimes they aren’t—Republican Chris Christie trounced Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey 58 percent to 33 percent among independent voters. Ditto in Virginia, where Republican Bob McDonnell’s gubernatorial victory tonight appears to have been fueled in part by swing voters. According to exit polls there, McDonnell led Democrat Creigh Deeds among self-described independent voters 65 percent to 34 percent. It is a fluke? Not exactly. For months, national polls have been showing independents moving to the right. A recent Gallup Poll found Republicans leading Dems 46 percent to 36 percent among independents. One reason, according to a recent Pew Research survey, is that independents are increasingly unhappy with the Democratic-led Congress. And their single biggest issue appears to be the one driving election results today and likely in 2010: worries about the economy.

Tag(s): Barack Obama, Republicans, Democrats, 2010 Elections, 2009 Elections

You must be a registered user to comment. Click here to register. Already a user? Click here to login.

Member Comments

Posted By: Davole (November 4, 2009 at 11:05 AM)

Yesterday's election results constitute a shake-up call to the national Republican Party that Conservatism is the way for it to defeat entrenched democrats in 2010 and 2012.

Report Abuse

Posted By: Pia81 (November 3, 2009 at 10:59 PM)

Although I voted for Pres. Obama, tonight I voted Jon Corzine out! Yes for Chris Christie!

My property taxes have almost doubled since Mr.Corzine has been gov.