Republican energy leads to comeback in polls

Politico:

New polling suggests that the Republican Party is beginning to regain some of its luster and, perhaps as important, is experiencing a surge in excitement among its political base.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reports that independent voters have an equally favorable opinion of both parties, 50 to 49 percent, a one-point edge for the GOP. That compares to an 18-point Democratic advantage as recently as August, a wide gap that had generally held for more than a year.

And half of registered voters overall now have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, the highest GOP ranking in three years. Slightly more voters, 55 percent, continue to have a favorable view of the Democratic Party.

The GOP convention and the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate have also generated considerable enthusiasm among the party rank-and-file. Pew found that three in four Republicans express satisfaction with their presidential choice. In June, only half said the same.

The findings come as the Gallup Poll recently found that the Democratic generic lead among voters, when asked which party they prefer to control Congress, has withered to only 3 points, 48 to 45 percent. Democrats had a double-digit generic congressional advantage on the eve of the midterm elections.

The portion of the public that strongly supports the Republican ticket has grown from 17 percent in August to 25 percent today. Over the same period, Republicans expressing “strong support” for McCain jumped 16 points. Independents expressing “strong support” for McCain rose 9 points. Meanwhile, Democratic “strong support” for Obama rose 7 points, while his backing from independents dropped one point.

Today, Pew finds relative parity in party enthusiasm. Fully 62 percent of Democrats strongly back their candidate compared to 59 percent of Republicans. Democrats had a double digit enthusiasm advantage last month. Other polling has also showed the narrowing of the enthusiasm gap, a measure that can gauge prospective voter turnout.

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Palin deserves some credit but so does the House Republican stand on energy. While the Democrats left town they were fighting for the 75 percent of voters who want expanded drilling. the bigger surprise is that the Democrats are still competitive considering they are on the wrong side of voters on energy and they were disastrously wrong on the Iraq war. They deserve to get blown out. Their leadership of Congress has led to the lowest Congressional approval rating in history.