Democrats’ chances are changing.
This just posted at the Times:
… The chances of the Republicans taking control of the Senate have inched up to 68 percent.
Democrats struggling to hang on to the Senate, who have been drowning in dreary news, have spotted a hopeful sign: Democratic voters who sat out the 2010 elections are becoming more interested in voting this time.
In North Carolina, which permits early voting, 42,230 people had requested ballots as of Monday. Of that group, 17,364 did not vote in 2010, and among them, Democrats outnumber Republicans, 39 percent to 32 percent.
I’m getting the same vibes here in Texas.
While it is difficult to predict how many of the North Carolina voters will ultimately turn in their ballots, the trend in Iowa suggests reasons for Democratic optimism.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reports that more than 21,000 Iowans who did not vote four years ago have already cast ballots: 53 percent of them are registered Democrats, 28 percent are unaffiliated, and 19 percent are Republicans.
These so-called drop-off voters have been a major focus of the Democratic turnout operation, as the party tries to overcome the lethargy typical of midterm elections and attract a younger, more diverse electorate, similar to the one that re-elected President Obama in 2012.
Michael P. McDonald, a University of Florida professor who tracks voting trends, said early indications suggested that the Democratic effort was paying off, though he cautioned against over-reading the data. …FirstDraft,NYT