focus groups | July 30, 2007
Democracy Corps completed four focus groups last week in two congressional districts that Republicans won in closely contested elections last November. Our discussions with swing voters in Rochester, NY (NY-25) and Arlington Heights, IL (IL-10) revealed that voters’ frustrations in the battleground have only deepened since the last election. President Bush has weakened his party even further, and Republicans who continue to support him, especially on Iraq, should face real electoral consequences next year. In this Democracy Corps focus group analysis, Karl Agne discusses the pessimism driving today’s political environment, voters’ intense opposition to the Iraq war, reactions to some of the latest political advertising hitting the airwaves, and attitudes toward the new Congress and the political parties.
In our latest round of Democracy Corps focus groups , we visited two Republican districts (NY-25 and IL-10) where Republican moderates won close elections over Democratic challengers who had been heavily outspent and are now likely to seek a rematch in 2008. We wanted to see how the political environment has changed since 2006 and whether the Republican moderates holding these seats had successfully separated themselves from President Bush and the mess in Washington or whether the worsening political environment in the country would be enough to close the gap and sweep these incumbents out in 2008.
Subscribe