Democratic Momentum Building Heading into Election Day
With one day to go before Election Day, there is new evidence that Democratic voters across the country are energized. According to the latest polls from Newsweek, “Republican candidates are falling further behind Democratic rivals” and "support for Republicans (and for President Bush) is receding.” The poll also found that “53 percent of Americans want the Democrats to win enough seats to take control of one or both houses of Congress in the midterm elections Tuesday.” [Newsweek, 11/4/06]
“Democrats are energized and organized heading into Election Day,” said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. “Democrats across the country are ready for change and are knocking on doors, making phone calls and getting their neighbors to the polls. Democrats are offering the American people a new direction that includes a real strategy for victory in Iraq, economic policies that benefit America’s working families and an end to the Republican culture of corruption in Washington.”
Democrats' enthusiasm is energizing get-out-the-vote efforts across the country. A few examples include:
- Nebraska: In Nebraska, Democrats broke vote by mail records, and are successfully targeting drop off voters. Of the ballots already cast, 46 percent were cast by Democrats while only 41 percent came from Republicans. The Nebraska Democratic Party has also made 120,000 phone calls and knocked on 30,000 doors this last week alone.
- Tennessee: This year, for the first time ever, Democrats outpaced Republicans in early voting totals, as Tennesseans set a record with over 860,000 early votes cast. Democrats increased our performance by 35 percent since 2004, which is 15 percent better than the Republicans.
- Oregon: Oregon is the only state in the country with all vote-by-mail elections. Historically, Republicans have out performed Democratic turnout in mid-term elections. In 2002, registered Republicans voted at a rate four perecentage points higher than Democrats. This year, however, as of November 4th, nearly 45 percent of registered Democrats have cast their ballots compared to just 42 percent by registered Republicans. Furthermore, the Democratic Party of Oregon has registered roughly 127,000 additional new Democratic voters this cycle. Of all the votes cast, over 44% are from registered Democrats, compared to 38.2% for the Republicans.
- Iowa: Thousands of volunteers across Iowa made 150,000 phone calls and knocked on 75,000 doors this past weekend.
- Arizona: In Arizona, more than 2,000 volunteers made over 100,000 volunteer calls and knocked on over 25,000 doors over the weekend in preparation for Election Day.
