Voter interest highest in a decade: Improved turnout likely (good for Dems

[warrens]

Politics is a water-cooler topic, a dinner-table subject, an issue to discuss after Sunday services, and this year the interest of American voters is at its highest level in more than a decade.

That renewed attention could translate into higher voter turnout on Nov. 7, according to an Associated Press-Pew poll.

Seventy percent say they are talking politics with family and friends, and 43 percent are debating the issues at work. Among churchgoers, 28 percent share their political views, a number that rises to 34 percent among the congregations in the South.

The relationship with politics is not unrequited.

Americans have heard from the candidates and campaigns through phone calls, e-mail or one-on-one. In turn, they've participated more in the political process, attending campaign events, circulating petitions and making political donations.

"Politics comes up fairly frequently in my workplace," said Christine Adkinson, an operating room nurse in Lakeland, Florida. "Most of the physicians are Republicans and some of my fellow nurses, we are mainly against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan -- we have quite lively discussions."
SNIP

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/11/motivated.voters.ap/index.html

[Matariki]

1. A friend of mine is registering and voting for the first time this month

And he just turned 39. We have argued for years about him not voting, which he always maintained was some sort of a 'political statement' on his part. I KNOW things have gotten bad if he is finally convinced he needs to vote.

[longship]

2. Why do the pollsters advantage the Repugs and Indeps?

The poll internals this year suck. Why are they doing this?

Because they are using old models which successfully predict previous elections. But this election isn't like previous ones. The issues have gone national. The election has become a mandate on ChimpCo and their failures. The O'Neill principle is not in play this time. People are activated by their anger at Iraq, Katrina, scandals, debt, the unending lies, and everything else. We know these things because of all the big issue polls.

So what happens in Nov? There are going to be lots of surprises that the polls aren't going to be predicting.

Work hard people. Our time has come.