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Nov. 6, 2009
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Nov. 5, 2009
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JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
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Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
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Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 31, 2006 / 2 Nissan, 5766

Checking party IDs

By Michael Barone


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The following comes from the Gallup organization:


Americans are about as likely to identify as Republicans as they are Democrats according to a review of recent Gallup polls. However, once the leanings of independents are taken into account, the Democrats gain an advantage. Democrats have been on par with, or ahead of, Republicans in party identification since the second quarter of 2005.


I'm not sure why this is treated as news. Since Gallup pioneered random-sample polling in October 1935, Democrats have always had an advantage over Republicans in party identification. When I entered the polling business in 1974, Democrats had a huge advantage in party ID, something on the order of 49 percent to 25 percent.


The real news came in 2004, when the NEP exit poll showed party identification of the electorate as 37 percent Democratic and 37 percent Republican—the best showing for Republicans since 1935. In the release referenced above, Gallup is saying that party ID is now 33 percent Democratic and 32 percent Republican but that self-identified independents tend to lean Democratic. In any long historical perspective, this represents a big gain for Republicans and a big loss for Democrats. In contrast, the difference between these numbers and party ID in the 2004 NEP exit poll is statistically insignificant. (Hat tip to Ed Morrissey, http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/006641.php.)


As Morrissey notes, many recent public polls have shown much greater Democratic advantage in party identification, as much as 10 percent. Their samples are far out of line with the NEP exit poll. How to explain these differences?


One way is to say that party identification could actually have changed substantially in the 16 months since the 2004 election. Historically, party ID seldom changes so much so rapidly, but it could. Certainly you could list a series of reasons—Iraq, Katrina, Dubai ports—that could plausibly explain such a shift. But still it seems unlikely.


Another way begins with noting that most current public polls sample "all adults." Some sample "registered voters." When we get closer to election time, pollsters narrow down their samples from AAs to RVs or LVs ("likely voters"). In recent years LVs have been significantly more Republican than RVs, who, in turn, have been significantly more Republican than AAs. The NEP exit poll was somewhat more Republican than most LV polls at the time. In this view, current AA polls might well be consistent with the NEP exit poll; they just measure different groups. Party identification might not be changing at all.


In 2002 and 2004, Republicans were more likely to turn out and vote than Democrats. That's partly the result of the Bush and Republican National Committee turnout efforts, and it also probably reflects greater enthusiasm by Republicans than Democrats (hard as that is for the mainstream media to believe). But there's no guarantee that Republicans will have a turnout advantage in November 2006. On the contrary, there are some reasons for believing that the Republican base today is discouraged and less likely to turn out than in 2002 and 2004. Polls don't do a good job of projecting turnout; at best, they just provide clues.


My own bottom line: I tend to discount polls that show a big Democratic lead in party identification. But I also take them as indicating that Republicans may not have the advantage in turnout in 2006 that they had in 2002 and 2004. May not: We'll see.

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BARONE'S LATEST
Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future  

America is divided into two camps, according to U.S. News and World Reports writer and Fox commentator Michael Barone. No, not Red and Blue, though one suspects Barone may taint the two groups in the hues of the 2000 presidential election. Barone's divided America is one part Hard, one part Soft. Hard America is steeled by the competition and accountability of the free market, while Soft America is the product of public school and government largesse. Inspired by the notion that America produces incompetent 18 year olds and remarkably competent 30 year olds, Barone embarks on a breezy 162-page commentary that will spark mostly huzzahs from the right and jeers from the left. Sales help fund JWR.

JWR contributor Michael Barone is a columnist at U.S. News & World Report. Comment by clicking here.




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