Pew has some new Presidential job approval figures that give an additional insight into the way Barack Obama is peeling off support from the Republican coalition.
The basic partisan breakdown looks like this:
Presidential Job Approval
Democrats – 88%
Independents – 63%
Republicans – 34%
But what is particularly noteworthy is the split within the Republicans:
Conservative Republicans : 28% approve, 47% disapprove
Moderate and Liberal Republicans: 46% approve, 30% disapprove
Wow. More moderate and liberal Republicans approve of the job Obama is doing than disapprove – almost 50% favorable, in fact.
For a number of years now political independents have been polling closer to Democrats than Republicans on a wide range of issues. But now moderate and liberal Republican voters are also starting to drift distinctly away from the conservative Republican “base.”
Looks like the Democrats are going to have to buy a bigger “Big Tent” – It appears there are some new elephants coming inside.