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Well here is a punch in the stomach to those who pandered to Hispanics over the summer by bashing Arizona and its Republican Governor Jan Brewer for passing the immigration law known as SB 1070. According to the latest report from Gallup, Hispanics have peeled off from Democrats in August and September. Hispanics' Preferences Shift, While Whites' and Blacks' are Stable Hispanic voters' support for Democratic candidates waned in August and September. As a result, Hispanics in September favored Democrats by a 13-point margin (51% to 38%), compared with 32-point margins in June and July. Whites in September favored Republican...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama. Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?”...

As former Bush speechwriter Peter Wehner writes, liberals "are expressing deepening alienation from our nation and turning on the American people with a vengeance." They thought they had a mandate from heaven in 2008 and can't bear the thought that they deluded themselves. They've gone from triumphalism to a petulant and uncomprehending tantrum in less than two years. The rump majority looks more exhausted by the day.

WASHINGTON – Independents who embraced President Barack Obama's call for change in 2008 are ready for a shift again, and that's worrisome news for Democrats. Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this November's elections, according to combined results of recent Associated Press-GfK polls. That's way down from the 52 percent of independents who backed Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain two years ago, and the 49 percent to 41 percent edge by which they preferred Democratic candidates for the House in that election, according...

It was a year ago this month that President Barack Obama began losing voters. In the 12 months since, he has had legislative victories that appear – especially in the case of health care – to have cost him large amounts of both political capital and political support. A comparison of the public’s views of him then and now tells us a great deal about the shape of American politics and how difficult it is for any president, even one as politically gifted as Barack Obama, to surmount the nation’s deep political and ideological divisions. [Snip] On Election Day 2008,...

Sobering poll news for 35 key House members. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she plans to bring health-care reform to a vote this week. Democratic leaders cite national polls that show support for individual provisions of the bill as a reason to pass this reform. Yet vulnerable politicians should be warned: Responses to questions about individual benefits, particularly when removed from a cost context, are different from those on the whole bill. Voters in key congressional districts are clear in their opposition to what they have seen, read and heard on health-care reform. That's one of the findings of a...

STRATFORD -- Republican Laura Hoydick has won the special election for the 120th Assembly District seat recently vacated by Mayor John A. Harkins. Hoydick received 1,949 votes to 1,390 for Democrat Janice Andersen. Hoydick won in all six voting districts with 58 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Andersen

To really appreciate how far the political pendulum has swung, let's check in with Chris Matthews. Two winters ago, the TV host was all atingle about Barack Obama, to the point where "I felt this thrill going up my leg." But last Tuesday night, when a heretofore obscure Republican state legislator named Scott Brown jolted Obama by snatching Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, Matthews was like a puppy on uppers. Before the polls had even closed, he was grooming Brown for immortality: "Does he have a hot hand politically, to run for the nomination for president next time?" But Matthews can...

Democrats' loss in Tuesday's race for a Massachusetts Senate seat is a stark illustration of their collapsing support from independent voters, a phenomenon that's prompting party leaders to revamp their playbook for this year's midterm elections. Independent voters—typically centrist, white and working-class—backed President Barack Obama and the Democrats in 2008. But Massachusetts is now the third Obama-won state in the past three months where independents have swung decisively Republican. Polls in the days leading up to the vote suggested the lead for Republican Scott Brown came about largely because of his advantage among independents over Democrat Martha Coakley. A new...

Massachusetts has long been regarded as a liberal stronghold, but the special election to replace Sen. Edward Kennedy in the US Senate is showing Massachusetts has a more conservative streak as well. State Sen. Scott Brown (R) is proving to be a major challenge for Attorney General Martha Coakley (D), who was heavily favored early in the race; a poll released late Thursday had Mr. Brown leading Ms. Coakley by 4 percentage points. Brown’s success may have to do with his ability to appeal to independent voters in the Bay State – 51 percent of voters here are unenrolled.

Americans are leaving both political parties in large numbers and are identifying themselves as Independents or third-party supporters. The exodus is so large that the share of Independent voters is now bigger than either Democrats or Republicans. That's the key finding from an analysis conducted by IBD/TIPP. The analysis compared party affiliation data from IBD/TIPP polls conducted in the first half of 2009 to the second half of 2009. Each period had more than 5,000 respondents. The share of voters who identify themselves as Democrats dropped from 39% to 35%, and the share of Republicans edged down from 29% to...

Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage. Following serious setbacks with independents in off-year elections earlier this month, White House officials attributed the defeats to local factors and said President Barack Obama sees no need to reposition his own image or the Democratic message. Since then, however, a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents—the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are...

Yesterday's election showed many cracks developing in the alliance that put the Democrats into power just one year ago. Independent voters were the most obvious but there were others, while still voting democratic young and urban voters were not motivated to come out for Obama's candidates, especially in New Jersey the state where the POTUS invested the most time and political capital. The other group shifting away from the Obama coalition is suburbia. Already facing growing property taxes, they see a federal government with no inclination to curb spending and the higher taxes the deficits will bring. According to Karl...

Even a five-point shift would mean big Democratic losses in 2010. Tuesday's elections should put a scare into red state Democrats—and a few blue state ones, too. Barack Obama was said to have redrawn the electoral map by winning Virginia last year with 53% of the vote. On Tuesday, Republican Bob McDonnell flipped the state back to the GOP, winning his election for governor with 59% of the vote. Mr. Obama carried New Jersey easily last year with 57% of the vote. This year, despite being outspent 3-to-1, Republican Chris Christie ousted Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine there by 49% to...

Here is video of liberal Juan Williams talking about President Obama's falling poll numbers, which he says is being fueled by a loss of independents. Williams says it's too early to tell if this loss is permanent, but if it is, he says Obama is in "for a really rough ride." (Watch Video)

This is the first time this indicator has gone negative.

Either indies have suddenly developed a taste for Nazi mobs of political terrorists or the Democrats’ message war on ObamaCare opponents is a rather epic fail. Given the left’s monopoly on wisdom and virtue, I must reluctantly conclude it’s the former. When did independents start hating America? In a survey of 1,000 adults taken Tuesday, 34% say the sometimes heated protests at sessions held by members of Congress have made them more sympathetic to the protesters’ views; 21% say they are less sympathetic. Independents by 2-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now. The findings are bad...

Protests at Town Halls Have Succeeded in Fueling Opposition Among AmericansThe raucous protests at congressional town hall meetings have succeeded in fueling opposition to proposed health care bills among some Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — particularly the independents who tend to be at the center of political debates. In a survey of 1,000 adults taken Tuesday, 34% say the sometimes heated protests at sessions held by members of Congress have made them more sympathetic to the protesters' views; 21% say they are less sympathetic. Independents by 2-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now. The...

New poll from Quinnipiac University (August 5 – 9, 1,301 RV, MoE +/- 2.7 %) shows President Obama's approval rating slipping to 56%, a five point decline from last month and down from his high of 68% in June. As you might expect, Republican and Democratic attitudes about Obama are already fixed, so Obama's job rating decline in New Jersey this month is driven entirely by defections among Independent voters. As you can see from the graphic below, Obama has lost a net of 19 points in his job rating with Independents in the last month, and is upside down...

Barack Obama and congressional Democrats won big on Tuesday night, but they should not mistake their victory for a big-government mandate. The evidence tells a very different story. A poll commissioned by the Club for Growth in 12 swing congressional districts over the past weekend shows that the voters who made the difference in this election still prefer less government -- lower taxes, less spending and less regulation -- to Sen. Obama's economic liberalism. Turns out, Americans didn't vote for Mr. Obama and Democratic congressional candidates because they support their redistributionist agenda, but because they are fed up with the...