Poll: Obama Loyalists Switch Sides

This probably isn’t the news Dems are hoping for in the home stretch before Election Day. According to a New York Times/CBS poll, key groups that had supported President Obama and the Democrats in 2008 are now moving toward Republican candidates. Among those who are now voting for the GOP: women, Catholics, less affluent Americans, and Independents—all groups that were key to Obama and the Democrats’ victory in 2008. Overall, 46 percent of likely voters said they’d vote for a Republican, and another quarter said they’d support an "extreme" candidate, even if they did not know anything about them. What could be the most troubling for Democrats is that voters said they’re more likely to trust Republicans with the reins of the economy, and a majority of respondents didn’t support Obama’s economic or health-care proposals.