Barack Obama was able to beat Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination thanks to the support of independents, and continues to out-perform the Democratic Party in many polls due to their support. (One example of this is here). Greg Sargent points out Obama’s support in a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Sargent received a partisan breakdown which shows that independents trust Obama as opposed to the Republicans on the big issues:
* On health care, 51% of indys trust Obama, and 26% trust GOPers in Congress.
* On the economy, 51% of indys trust Obama, and 31% trust the GOP.
* On the budget deficit, 52% of indys trust Obama, and 30% trust the GOP.
* And on terrorism, 53% of indys trust Obama, and 36% trust the GOP.
He also noted that the poll shows that “GOPers are strongly aligned with their leadership” on the key issues. This makes it harder to see how the Republicans can break their downward death spiral in which they support extremist views which are supported by their base but which makes them unelectable in national elections.
