From: Rasmussen Reports

In November, 36.0% of American Adults identified themselves as Republicans; 34.7% considered themselves Democrats, and 29.3% were not affiliated with either major party. That's the largest number of Republicans since February 2005 and the first time ever that Rasmussen Reports polling has found more people identifying as Republicans than Democrats. See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.

In November 2008, following the presidential election, Democrats held a 7.6 percentage point advantage over the GOP. That means Republicans have picked up a net of approximately nine points over the past two years. That is a somewhat larger gain compared to the Democratic gains from the reelection of President Bush in 2004 to the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006. However, it is similar to the gains recorded by Democrats during the four-year period from Election 2004 to Election 2008.

In each of the recent election cycles, the victorious party has gained in net partisan identification over the course of the election year.

It is worth noting, however, that the gains are often short-lived. Following Election 2004, the Republican partisan decline began in February 2005. In 2006, the Democratic edge began to decline as soon as they actually took control of Congress in January. Following President Obama's victory in November 2008, the Democrat's advantage in partisan identification peaked in December before declining.

Another point worth noting is that the GOP has the edge today partly because the number of Democrats is barely above the lowest level ever recorded in eight years of monthly tracking by Rasmussen Reports. This supports the conclusion that Election 2010 was less a victory for the Republicans than a defeat for the Democrats. A majority of voters expect to be disappointed by the GOP Congress before 2012. Republican voters overwhelmingly believe Republicans in Congress are out of touch with the party's base.

Rasmussen Reports tracks this information based on telephone interviews with approximately 15,000 adults per month and has been doing so since November 2002. The margin of error for the full sample is less than one percentage point, with a 95% level of confidence.

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On the eve of the elections last month, the number of Democrats temporarily surged. However, the November totals are virtually identical to the September totals.

The biggest partisan gap advantage ever measured for Democrats was 10.1 percentage points in May 2008. In December 2008, the final full month of the Bush administration, the Democrats held an 8.8-percentage-point advantage.

Between November 2004 and 2006, the Democratic advantage in partisan identification grew by 4.5 percentage points. That foreshadowed the Democrats' big gains in the 2006 midterm elections. The gap grew by another 1.5 percentage points between November 2006 and November 2008 leading up to Obama's election.

The number of Democrats peaked at 41.7% in May 2008, and it was nearly as high - at 41.6% - in December 2008. The number of Democrats fell below the 40% mark in March 2009 and first fell below 36% in December of last year. Rasmussen Reports has been tracking this data monthly since November 2002.

For the last two months, the number of Democrats in the country reached record lows of 35.0% and 34.6%. Prior to those surveys, the lowest level of identification with the Democrats had been 35.1%.

For Republicans, the peak was way back in September 2004 at 37.3%. Since then, until this month, the number of Republicans has generally stayed between 31% and 34% of the nation's adults.

Keep in mind that figures reported in this article are for all adults, not likely voters. Republicans are a bit more likely to participate in elections than Democrats.

The president's approval rating has held fairly steady throughout 2010 as reflected in our month-by-month review.

Republicans continue to hold an advantage on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Republicans continue to be trusted more than Democrats on most key issues.

Data from our monthly partisan identification survey is used to set weighting targets for other Rasmussen Reports surveys. The targets are based on results from the previous three months.

Those Saying U.S. on Wrong Track Hits High Under Obama of 69%

UTICA, New York - President Barack Obama's job approval rating has dropped to the lowest point of his Presidency at 39%, and in potential match-ups with Republicans in 2012, he trails Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich and is just one point ahead of Sarah Palin.

The percentage of likely voters saying the U.S. is on the wrong track is now the highest since Obama took office at 69%.

The President continues to lose the job approval of Democrats, going from 78% on Nov. 15 to 72% in this Nov. 19-22, 2010 interactive poll. His approval among independents stayed at 39%, and is 6% among Republicans.

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of Barack Obama's job as President?

Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Obama's approval is also falling among the First Global^TM generation born since 1979. This age cohort was key to his victory in 2008, but just 42% now approve of his job performance. He continues to do better among women (44%) than men (33%.)

If the 2012 Presidential election were held today, for whom would you vote?

Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Among independents, match-ups between Obama and Republicans Romney, Gingrich, Palin and Bush are very close. Versus all of these hypothetical opponents except Bloomberg, Obama draws between 36% and 39% of independents. He beats Bloomberg among independents, 26%-12%, but 49% of independents would choose neither. Obama beats Trump with independents, 36%-29%.

Obama wins between 75% and 78% of Democrats versus all opponents except Bloomberg, against whom Obama gets 65%. The percentage of Democrats who would choose neither Obama nor his opponent ranges from 7% versus Romney and 18% versus Bloomberg.

Among Republicans, Gingrich leads with 79%, followed by Romney 77% and Palin 72%.  One-half of Republicans would choose Trump over Obama, but 43% want neither. Bloomberg would get only 19% of Republicans, with 74% not wanting either the New York City mayor or Obama.

Pollster John Zogby: "Obama lost support among independents more than a year ago. Now, he is failing to please more than one-fourth of his own party's voters. This is a perilous position for the President. Conventional wisdom calls for him to reach for the center and assume that Democrats will stay with him in 2012. But as we saw in the mid-terms, Democrats can't win without strong turnout from the young and minorities, both of which are demographics that need more motivation than others to vote."

The interactive poll consisted of 2,032 likely voters and has a margin of error of +/-2.2%.  A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the U.S., was invited to participate.  Slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender, and education to more accurately reflect the population.

Ohio FFC Chairman Ken Blackwell has joined a nationwide grassroots effort to push for a balanced budget amendment in the U.S. Congress. Ken is joined in his effort to do so by U.S. Senator-elect Mike Lee of Utah. Below is the exact text of the proposed amendment. You can learn more about this effort by visiting www.balancedbudgetamendmentnow.com.

Amendment XXVIII

Section 1.

Revenues collected by the Congress during any fiscal year shall not exceed twenty percent of the gross domestic product during the previous fiscal year.

Section 2.

No later than six months prior to the end of each fiscal year, the President shall transmit to the Congress a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts.

Section 3.

Total outlays appropriated by the Congress for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year. Total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States except those derived from borrowing. Total outlays shall include all outlays of the United States except for those for repayment of debt principal. The Congress may rely on estimates of outlays and receipts in implementing this section.

Section 4.

The Congress may exceed the limitations imposed by this article only during a fiscal year in which the Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of the members of each house, has adopted a joint resolution suspending those limitations.

Section 5.

The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 6.

This article shall become effective beginning with the second fiscal year commencing after the article has been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states.

Section 7.

Any Member of Congress shall have standing to bring a federal suit to enforce this article, when authorized to do so by a petition signed by one-third of the Members of either House of Congress.

By: edmondsun.com

EDMOND — State Question 755, the president's rocky relationship with Israel and his position on the so-called "ground zero mosque" were some of the issues that drove a record number of evangelical voters, observers said.

Edmond has a large, active faith community, evidenced by various ministries and high attendance at numerous churches of various denominations.

Generally speaking, evangelicals are individuals who believe in the Bible's inerrancy and stress the need for personal conversion and sharing of the Christian gospel.

Nationwide, the largest single voter block in Tuesday's midterm election was self-identified evangelicals who made up 29 percent of the vote, and cast 79 percent of their ballots for Republican candidates, according to a post-election survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

"I think that's clearly an eye-popping number," said Gregg Keller, the coalition's national executive director.

In fact, the evangelical turnout, a 5 percent increase over 2006, was the largest ever recorded in a midterm election, the survey found.

Additionally, Roman Catholic voters constituted 12 percent of the vote and cast 58 percent of their ballots for Republican candidates, as opposed to 40 percent for Democrats, according to CNN exit polling.

Keller said before the election his organization made 58.8 million voter contacts to social and fiscal conservatives, including 16 million voter guides, 8 million pieces of mail and 15 million get-out-the-vote calls.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition, founded by Ralph Reed, targeted key races, contributing to the GOP taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Keller said.

The health of the economy, government spending, immigration reform and national security were among the primary issues in the election.

However, Oklahoma evangelicals were also interested in SQ 755, and a variety of issues all wrapped up in one person — President Barack Obama, said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie.

Gaddie said at this time he does not have specific numbers about Oklahoma, but he is willing to wager that evangelicals in the state turned out in big numbers, especially in affluent suburbs.

Tom Vineyard, senior pastor at Oklahoma City's Windsor Hills Baptist Church, has been an outspoken critic of many of Obama's policies.

Vineyard said he estimates that close to 100 percent of the voting age members of his church cast ballots on Tuesday. Before election day, many members volunteered in various local campaigns in a variety of ways, he said.

Issues that drove evangelicals to the polls included mounting national debt, government spending, President Obama's perceived ill-treatment of Israel, Obama's stance on a number of social issues and his tolerance of the controversial "ground zero mosque" planned to be built in lower Manhattan, Vineyard said.

Regarding Israel, Vineyard cited Genesis 12:3, in which God says he will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel, and that all people on earth will be blessed through the nation.

Evangelicals and Israelis criticized Obama for walking out of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Later, Obama extended an olive branch to Netanyahu, and the U.S. president made an effort to show American support for Israel.

Obama, along with New York City leaders, supported the right of Muslims to build the controversial community center and mosque a couple of blocks from where the World Trade Center stood before Sept. 11, 2001.

A Time poll found that 61 percent of Americans oppose the project.

Vineyard said the project is a slap in the face to the families of those who died when radical Muslims flew two airliners into the towers, and a mosque should not be built there.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition survey found that 52 percent of all self-identified members of the Tea Party movement are conservative evangelicals.

Keller said before the general election, it was believed that the Tea Party and evangelical conservatives were two separate groups. The survey shows that the election resulted in an historic realignment.