WE WELCOME THE INDEPENDENTS – 8:15 P.M. ET:  A new Pew poll confirms the march of the independents.  It was a different story two years ago:

In an ominous sign for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, independent voters now favor Republicans by nearly the same margins that they went for Obama in 2008 and his party in the 2006 mid-term, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released Wednesday.

“For the third national election in a row, independent voters may be poised to vote out the party in power,” Pew concludes.

From their mouth to you know whose ears.

Unlike the most recent election cycles when independents complained about the lack of progress in Washington on major issues facing the country, these critical swing voters now are expressing high anxiety with what Congress and the White House have already done.

Overall, 45 percent of independents disapprove of the health care reforms passed this year compared to 41 percent who approve of them. A third of independents say Obama’s economic policies have made conditions worse for them rather than better, compared to 24 percent who take a more positive view.

“They feel that the issues have been dealt with but not in a way that is satisfactory to them,” said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center.

That's the point, and it's one the GOP should drive home – that the Democrats ignore what their constituents say, and do whatever they please.   There's an arrogance, a haughtiness.

“Trust in government is at one of the lowest points in 60 years of polling,” said Kohut. “It’s a backlash against what is seen as government policies and programs that are too liberal or too much in the vein of government expansion.”

About the only good news in the survey for Democrats is that a reasonable chunk – about 40 percent – of independents said they still maintain some level of support for the president or his party. Those respondents, however, are not nearly as motivated to vote as their discontented independent brethren.

COMMENT:  That's good news, but please remember that it's a national survey.  We have national polls, but we don't have national elections.  Even a presidential election is really 50 separate state elections for the electoral college.  In November we'll be voting state by state, district by district.  Each race must be fought separately.

September 23, 2010