Democrats Start in the Lead as Election Year Dawns (Harris Poll)

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-13-2006/0004248862&EDATE=

Democrats Start in the Lead as Election Year Dawns, According to New Harris Poll

<snip>

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- With mid-term elections less than
a year away, a new Harris Poll finds that Republicans may have their work cut
out for them. According to the poll, if the election for Congress were held
today, more than two in five (43%) adults would vote for the Democratic
candidate, while one-third (34%) would vote for the Republican candidate, 14
percent would vote for someone else, and nine percent are undecided.

...

* There is currently a significant gender gap with women strongly
supporting the Democratic candidate (48% would support the Democratic
candidate and 34% would support the Republican candidate) and men more
divided (37% would support the Democratic candidate and 34% would
support the Republican candidate).

* Another issue the Republican Party is faced with is that their candidate
shows signs of weakness among both conservatives (51% would vote for the
Republican candidate) and moderates(1) (2%), two important segments of
their coalition. On the other hand, a Democratic candidate currently
draws 66 percent of the liberal vote and 47 percent of the moderate
vote.

* The Democratic candidate also appears to have a stronger commitment
among its base than does the Republican candidate (83% of Democrats
would support their candidate vs. 78% of Republicans would support their
candidate).