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Republicans facing disaster.
After eight years of the Bush
presidency, Republicans are
demoralized. 20 seats in the
House and 6 in the Senate will
be lost. |
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Republicans Facing Disaster
―
White House, House and Senate Races will
Go to Democrats
WASHINGTON (By Paul Steinhauser, CNN)
June 13, 2008 ― The Republican party may
face tough times at the polls come
November, according to results of a new
national survey.
A
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Survey
out Friday indicates that 2008 may not
be a good year for Republicans up and
down the ticket, even though most
national surveys indicate the race for
the White House between Sens. John
McCain and Barack Obama is quite close
right now.
Sixty-three percent of Democrats
questioned say they are either extremely
or very enthusiastic about voting this
year. Only 37 percent of Republicans
feel the same way, and 36 percent of
Republicans say they are not
enthusiastic about voting.
"Republicans are far less enthusiastic
about voting than Democrats are, and
enthusiasm has plummeted among GOPers
since the start of the year," said
Keating Holland, CNN polling director.
"There was already an 'enthusiasm gap'
in January, when Democrats were 11
points higher than GOPers on this
measure. Now, that gap has grown to 26
points."
"Bottom
line: After eight years of the Bush
presidency, Republicans are
demoralized," said Bill Schneider, CNN
senior political analyst.
Fifty-three percent of registered voters
questioned in the poll say they think
that Obama, D-Illinois, will win the
election, with 43 percent saying that
McCain, R-Arizona, will win.
"In
recent elections, the public has a good
track record at predicting the outcome
of presidential elections. Most polls
which asked this same question in 2000
and 2004 showed more Americans
predicting a victory by George W. Bush
over John Kerry or Al Gore. The public
also correctly forecast that Bill
Clinton would beat Bob Dole in 1996,"
Holland said.
In the
battle for Congress, 54 percent of those
questioned say they would vote for the
Democrat in their congressional
district, with 44 percent saying they'd
vote for the Republican candidate.
"Democrats lead Republicans by 10 points
in the congressional vote. At this point
in 2006, the Democratic lead was seven
points. Democrats went on to win a
landslide in 2006," Schneider said.
Another
question hovering over this year's
campaign: Race. Forty-two percent say
Obama's race will make it more difficult
for him to get elected, with 57 percent
disagreeing.
"That
concern is higher among Democrats, at 48
percent, than Republicans, at 36
percent," Schneider said.
The
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll
was conducted by telephone on June 4 and
5, with 1,035 adult Americans
questioned. The survey's sampling error
is plus or minus 3 percentage points for
the overall sample and 5 percentage
points for the answers of just Democrats
or Republicans.