What is this “liberal friends” of which you speak?
If you have liberal friends, then you know how deflated they feel about O's presidency, the sense of betrayal, the almost ... shame at this point. I watched the second debate with 3 of my most liberal neighbors in Maine. Great way to gauge the mood of the other side. Suddenly they are not so interested in politics.
The most important dynamic on a psychological level is that they no longer identify with him, even if they're voting for him. It is as if their professional football team had lost every game in the past 3 seasons ... nobody goes around wearing that team's shirt.
Part of the reason I know this election is going to be around a 7 point win for RR is that I know many liberals. There will be many no shows, and even secret defections inside the booth.
It will be an act of will for them to go vote - they are actually doing something they don't look forward to doing.They are only doing it to avoid the cognitive dissonance that would come with repudiating their bold and blind trust in hope and change. Mitt's surge is matched by an equal and opposite "WTF?" for Obama among liberals.
They are otherwise highly functional, successful and rational people, who become instant childish imbeciles as soon as politics is the subject.