A tracking poll conducted quarterly for the past 30 years has found that an initial rally by republicans earlier this year has been wiped away and replaced with the lowest confidence among likely voters that the GOP has faced since 1983. Chris Cilliza has the breakdown.
Less than one in five voters (19 percent) expressed confidence in Republicans’ ability to make the right decisions for America’s future while a whopping 79 percent lacked that confidence.
Among independent voters, who went heavily for Obama in 2008 and congressional Democrats in 2006, the numbers for Republicans on the confidence questions were even worse. Just 17 percent of independents expressed confidence in Republicans’ ability to make the right decision while 83 percent said they did not have that confidence.
On the generic ballot question, 51 percent of the sample said they would cast a vote for a Democratic candidate in their congressional district next fall while just 39 percent said they would opt for a GOP candidate. (As late as this summer, Republicans had seemingly narrowed the wide generic ballot lead Democrats enjoyed for much of the last two election cycles.)
And, perhaps most troubling for GOP hopes is the fact that just 20 percent of the Post sample identified themselves as Republicans, the lowest that number has been in Post polling since 1983. (No, that is not a typo.)
The poll was conducted by conventional and cellular telephone from Oct. 15 to 19 among a random sample of 1,004 adults. The margin of sampling error for the full poll is plus or minus three percentage points.
Its no wonder people are embarrassed to call themselves republicans. I used to lean more towards Republicans, but I’m ashamed to say it now. WIth nutty leaders like that Lou Ann Zelnik and Tim Rudd, and tax dodgers like Christian Hidalgo the republicans have obviously been taken over by the tea party nuts. Thanks for the Facebook updates, ya’ll. Keep up the great work!
What should also be noted is that the crazy drooling Republicans don’t even think they have a problem - even as their pool of old white people keeps getting smaller and smaller.
when will the Republican party put up a viable candidate to unseat Bart Gordon? Looks like the Republican party is trying to keep Gordon in office. Zelnick??? Come on, REALLY? She couldn’t place 1st in a one man marathon. I believe the Republican party in Tennessee loves Bart Gordon.
Oh Jennifer, you have the gall to say tax dodgers. Have you ever heard of Tim gietner and Charlie Rangel? Get real, get the correct facts, before you throw stones.
Dan, so its OK for republicans like Christian Hidalgo to cheat on their taxes if Democrats do it? This is exactly the kind of stuff that has made me leave the Republican party. They are just a bunch of finger pointers and holier-than-thou hypocrites.