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Big news: New poll shows GOP leading Dems in congressional preference ballot
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
11/11/09 8:04 AM EST
After years of trailing far behind Democrats, Republicans have now surpassed Democrats as the public's choice in the 2010 congressional elections. In response to the latest so-called "generic ballot" question from the Gallup organization -- "If elections for Congress were being held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?" -- the new results are 48 percent for Republicans versus 44 percent for Democrats among registered voters, and 46 percent for Republicans versus 44 percent for Democrats among adults nationwide.
It's an extraordinary turnaround for the GOP. Last July, Democrats held a six-point lead. Last December, Democrats held a 15-point lead. At one point in 2007, Democrats held a 23-point lead, and for all of that year, 2007, Democrats held a double-digit lead.
The new Republican lead is the result of a dramatic move of independents toward the Republican party. In the new poll, according to Gallup, the GOP leads among independents, 52 percent to 30 percent -- whopping 22-point margin. Last month, the Republican lead among independents was just nine points, and in July, the GOP lead was a single point. So among independents, the Republican lead has gone from one point to 22 points in less than six months -- with much of lead accumulating in the last month.
'This administration has pulled off an astonishing hat trick -- they have irritated Democrats, alienated independents and energized Republicans," says the Republican National Committee in a statement on the poll released this morning. "Last Tuesday's election made it official -- Americans, and especially they independent-minded voters, are soundly rejecting the big-government, over-reaching policies of President Obama and Washington Democrats. The voters have demonstrated tremendous backlash to the Obama administration's hard turn to the left. Republicans are the party of conservative problem-solvers while the Democrats have clearly demonstrated they are the party of big-government simply by the policies they have supported -- a failed stimulus package, a trillion dollar government-run health care experiment, and a job-killing national energy tax."
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