Crunching the Numbers

Michael Barone highlights significant data from Tuesday’s election. Among the highlights: party identification changed virtually not at all from 2004, with Democrats enjoying a 38%-36% edge. The difference was that Republicans did more poorly with independents. Michael doesn’t say this, but independents are mostly people who don’t pay much attention to politics, and I would guess that the steady drumbeat of negative headlines about Republicans and Iraq over the last two years, combined with cricket-chirping at best about the economy, strongly influenced these voters.
Barone also points out that immigration doesn’t seem to have worked as an issue for Republicans, and the unions came through in a major way for the Democrats.
For much more from Michael, check out our podcast interview with him here.