Poll: Obama Holds Enormous "Voter Enthusiasm" Edge Over McCain
By Greg Sargent - June 23, 2008, 11:43AM
Check out these key numbers that were buried in the USA Today poll that was released yesterday:
61% of Democrats said they were more enthusiastic than usual about voting in this year's election, while just 35% of Republicans said that.
Also in the poll, Obama's fav/unfav is 64%-31%, while McCain's is 59%-35%.
As Mark Murray notes, Obama enjoys an "enthusiasm gap" that is formidable -- the Dem enthusiasm number is nearly twice that of the GOP. It's the sort of thing that could make a real difference in the close states.
The gap becomes even more key in the context of Obama's 50-state strategy: Expectations of an energized voter turnout for Obama will give plausibility to the Obama camp's claims of broadening the map, thus forcing McCain to invest scarce resources in states they might otherwise have been able to more or less ignore.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/poll_obama_holds_enormous_vote.php