Indiana: An Emerging Purple State?
Chris Cillizza from the Washington Post’s Blog “The Fix” further analyzes the Indianapolis Star/WTHR poll:
A new poll out of Indiana should give hope to Democrats who believe Bush’s eight-year tenure and the continued unpopularity of the war in Iraq has fundamentally altered the partisan composition of the country.
The survey, which was conducted by highly regarded Iowa-based pollster J. Ann Selzer, showed broad dissatisfaction with the direction of the country and the state as well as with the current President and Indiana’s Republican governor.
Just 20 percent of the sample said the nation was headed in the right direction while 74 percent said it was off on the wrong track; the numbers were only slightly more optimistic when it came to Indiana with 35 percent saying the state was moving in the right direction and 57 percent believing it was off on the wrong track.
More: The Fix
November 28th, 2007 at 5:43 am
This the same Selzer that changed the results of the mayoral poll to give Peterson a larger lead than initially reported?
Lots of credibility there.
November 28th, 2007 at 8:37 am
You’ve got to remember that D.C. based analysts and folks outside of the state looking in are coming to their conclusions based on what they see of the state from a distance. They do not have the luxury of following the state political scene day in and day out so what we see from them is a bird’s eye view when an on-the-ground look is much better.
I think that Republican congressional candidates will have to overcome the national definition of what a Republican is (endless War and endless tax-and-spend) while state level candidates will have to run on bold ideas aimed at solving state problems. I can foresee a situation in which Republicans don’t do well on the congressional level in Indiana but do pretty good in state legislative races.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:49 am
It’s a bad poll.
But I wouldn’t let a bad poll hide the fact that Republicans in Indiana face serious challenges, many of them in large part stemming from the Governor in one way or the other.