Gingersnap
10-21-2010, 10:36 AM
Majority of independent voters say Dem leadership is more left wing than they are
By Alexander Bolton - 10/20/10 08:58 PM ET
In another potentially troubling sign for Democratic candidates, three in five independent voters in key House districts say Congress’s Democratic leadership is to the left of them on the political spectrum.
The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll found that 61 percent of likely independent voters in 10 battleground House districts — a critical swing demographic — think the leadership under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is more liberal than they are.
Only 16 percent of independents say Pelosi and Reid — both of whom have been vilified by Republicans on the campaign stump — hold political views similar to their own.
“That’s a very significant finding that tells you where independents are likely to go,” said Mark Penn, president of Penn Schoen Berland, which conducted the poll. “In terms of independents, Reid and Pelosi are viewed as out of step.”
Penn’s firm conducted phone interviews with 4,276 likely voters in 10 battleground House districts from Oct. 9 to Oct. 17. The poll surveyed voters in Arizona, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and had a margin of error of 1.5 percent for the aggregate sample.
The survey found that even 23 percent of likely Democratic voters consider Reid and Pelosi more liberal than they, the voters, are.
The Hill (http://thehill.com/house-polls/thehill-poll-week-3/125125-democrats-twice-as-likely-as-gopers-to-consider-their-party-too-extreme)
By Alexander Bolton - 10/20/10 08:58 PM ET
In another potentially troubling sign for Democratic candidates, three in five independent voters in key House districts say Congress’s Democratic leadership is to the left of them on the political spectrum.
The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll found that 61 percent of likely independent voters in 10 battleground House districts — a critical swing demographic — think the leadership under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is more liberal than they are.
Only 16 percent of independents say Pelosi and Reid — both of whom have been vilified by Republicans on the campaign stump — hold political views similar to their own.
“That’s a very significant finding that tells you where independents are likely to go,” said Mark Penn, president of Penn Schoen Berland, which conducted the poll. “In terms of independents, Reid and Pelosi are viewed as out of step.”
Penn’s firm conducted phone interviews with 4,276 likely voters in 10 battleground House districts from Oct. 9 to Oct. 17. The poll surveyed voters in Arizona, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and had a margin of error of 1.5 percent for the aggregate sample.
The survey found that even 23 percent of likely Democratic voters consider Reid and Pelosi more liberal than they, the voters, are.
The Hill (http://thehill.com/house-polls/thehill-poll-week-3/125125-democrats-twice-as-likely-as-gopers-to-consider-their-party-too-extreme)