Matthew, as the only blow back (not ad hominem) in this thread was to a comment made by “jwest” can we assume that you're “jwest” in a new guise or are you another fresh 18%er with an opinion?

An outlier is a single poll or polling source that differs significantly from the consensus of multiple polls, regardless of party affiliation or partisanship. True random samples should be neutral. Call back in a month or two when Gallup and other polls show similar results.

If the Repubicans want to be more than just Dem Lite, they need to return to our real roots, that being the roots of liberty.

When the polls favor democrats, they are scientific proof of known truths.

When the polls favor republicans, they must be outliers that mean nothing.

This “reality based” thinking is fun.

What is missing from the analysis is a discussion of changing demographics and what that portends going forward. This might be referred to as the “Replacement Factor”, those who will replace the aging poplulation (still holding onto Republican identification) as their numbers are diminished through attrition. Those replacemnt voters are either a) young or b) immigrant. It would have been interesting to add to the polling the leanings of the 15-17 year old demographic who will be entering our voting booths over the next two to four years. That polling might not be directed so much at Party ID as it would be to specific impact issues like gay marriage.

It strikes me that if we add the key factors of 1. trend lines, 2. Republican losses through attrition and 3. The leanings of key demographic replacement voters, the Republicans are in a precarios position. And, the longer it takes them to recognize and correct the problem, the further behind they will fall. As an editorial aside, this is a troublesome occurrence at a time in our history when a strong minority party could serve us well in ameliorating the natural excesses of one party rule.

In order to confuse and minimize this sea change, the MSM looked back for a high water mark in Republican identification and compared it to today.

Why not compare the Democrat identification today to May, 1963? It would have about as much relevance.

Most readers don’t have multiple sources of information to look at articles with a critical eye. The apathetic, incurious and generally dim simply take what is written as fact.

Hopefully, with a little additional reading and some intellectual honesty, the truth will come out.

Wouldn’t you say that the major news from this poll is the dramatic shift in party affiliation (including leaners) towards the Republican Party?

This shows people moving away from Obama and Democrats in droves.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/15370/Party-Affiliat…

Isn't this part of a general problem though? If it is all about “winning elections” then what's the point in actually trying to govern? Politicians who want to win will say anything to get elected to anybody who will vote for them. Then they go to Washington and we all wonder what happened to those campaign promises–you can see it now in many corners on the left. The Repubs have serious problems, no doubt, and I'm not sure they will become a force anytime soon. But I also think that all of this finger-pointing going on about how dysfunctional the Repubs are serves us no purpose at all. If anything we should be taking a critical look at those who are in power, who do have the ability to set policy and control things. Remember the last time one party controlled everything? It didn't work out too well did it? Perhaps a little more focus on those in power will keep this disaster from repeating itself.