Democrats say ‘enthusiasm gap’ is narrowing

Democratic strategists are arguing that the prolonged “enthusiasm gap” Republicans enjoyed in polls this year has begun to narrow, which bodes well for the party as Election Day draws closer.

Days after President Obama held a major rally aimed at motivating his supporters to get engaged, the man who led Obama’s 2008 campaign said voters are responding to what he described as a “dangerous” crop of GOP candidates.

“People [are] seeing that this is not just some isolated instances, that the real power in the Republican Party is the real conservative … Palin, Limbaugh, Beck wing,” David Plouffe said in a strategy update sent to Organizing for America members. “This is a new brand of Republican candidates intent on pandering to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of more than 400 mostly Democratic-leaning interest groups, including the AFL-CIO and NAACP, are holding a “One Nation” march on the National Mall in Washington on Saturday, organized in part as a counter-demonstration intended to match conservative gatherings like the Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” and 9/12 rallies.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released earlier this week found a rebound in enthusiasm among Latino and African American voters, which contributed in part to a narrowing of the so-called generic ballot test of support for each party’s congressional candidates. A Gallup poll of registered voters found each party tied on that same question, just weeks after Republicans had an unprecedented 10-point advantage.

“There better not be an enthusiasm gap!” Obama shouted at a low-dollar fundraiser in Washington on Thursday geared toward young voters. “The biggest mistake we could make is to let impatience or frustration lead to apathy and indifference -- because that guarantees the other side wins.”

The event was expected to add $750,000 to the DNC’s coffers. Obama’s rally in Madison, Wis., on Tuesday drew a crowd estimated at more than 20,000. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential 2012 presidential hopeful, called the turnout “huge,” and said he hoped it “serves as a wake-up call to conservatives that the 2010 midterm elections aren’t over yet.”

But most other indicators still point to a major Republican wave. Gallup’s Frank Newport said that when his generic ballot poll is narrowed to screen out voters considered less likely to vote, Republicans would again have a strong lead. The Cook Political Report has continued to revise its rankings for races for Senate, House and governorships, and all but two in two weeks have been revised in favor of Republicans.

“For quite a while, Democrats have waited and desperately hoped that the trajectory of this election campaign would change. They are still waiting and hoping,” Charlie Cook wrote this week.

Obama will continue his efforts for the party next week. On Wednesday he travels to New Jersey for a DNC fundraiser. On Thursday, he’ll campaign in Maryland for Gov. Martin O’Malley before traveling home to Illinois for events for Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias. That Sunday is his second major “Moving America Forward” rally, this time in Philadelphia.

Vice President Joe Biden will continue his busy political travel schedule as well, with stops in Ohio, Wisconsin, Washington and Minnesota.