If true, this will be the most surprising bit of news for 2008:
During August, the number of Americans who consider themselves to be Republicans increased two percentage points to 33.2% while the number of Democrats was little changed at 38.9%.
That gives the Democrats a net advantage of 5.7 percentage points, down two points from a month ago and down significantly from the double digit advantage they enjoyed in April and May.
That poll was released September 2nd, which means it was pre-Palin speech, and one does wonder just how many people out there are saying, “If John McCain and Sarah Palin are the GOP, then I’m a Republican, too”? The Democrats still have a big advantage (and Rasmussen points out that over the past year the Democrats have maintained this strong advantage), but it does seem to be drifting downwards, and the effect of the past few days might have started to force it downwards quite fast – though we won’t know until Rasmussen puts out next month’s party ID result.
The GOP is being rebranded as the party of reform – and just as successful as that rebranding is by November will determine if the GOP – and not just McCain/Palin – comes out a winner. The GOP, as McCain pointed out, lost its way and was captured by the Washington ethos…now we have a chance to reclaim our outsider, insurgent reputation and really get to work on changing the way things are done.
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