CNN Poll: 68% of Voters are Angry Over Direction of Country, 53% Scared

A new CNN poll just one week before the 2014 midterm elections shoe that 68% of voters are angry, not unhappy, angry with the direction of the country. The poll also states that 53% of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance. Both of these poll issues do not bode well for Democrats. However, CNN also brings up a very key point from the polls which is the reason why the 2014 elections do not appear to be a “wave” election, as they should be. Voter turn out and enthusiasm means everything, especially in a midterm election. According to the CNN poll, 36% of Republican voters said they are “extremely” or “very enthusiastic,” about voting this year, as opposed to only 26% of Democrats. The 10% difference sounds good, doesn’t it, but is it really?

Back in the 2010 midterm elections when the GOP was swept into control in the House … a shellacking for Democrats, the enthusiasm gap was 54% to 34% in favor of Republicans. Wonder why the GOP is not sealing the deal to take control of the Senate and pick up 6, 7, 8 or even 9 seats during a time of a majorly unpopular president? Republicans have campaigned on nothing and have ignored their base. If they fail to gain control of the Senate, they will have no one to blame but themselves.

CNN:

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans are angry at the direction the country is headed and 53% of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance, two troubling signs for Democrats one week before the midterm elections, a new CNN/ORC International Poll shows.

Democrats are battling to try and save the Senate majority, while hoping to prevent more losses in the House, which the GOP controls by a 234 to 201 margin.

In the Senate, Republicans need a net gain of six seats, and several state polls in the past month of contested races show that Democrats are in danger of losing control of the majority, and thus Congress. Currently, Democrats control the Senate by a 55-45 margin with two of those seats held by independents that align themselves politically with Democrats.

The CNN/ORC poll shows that 30% of Americans are “very angry” and 38% are “somewhat angry” about the way things are going in the country, while 31% expressed “no anger” at all. CNN Polling Director Keating Holland notes the 31% of “very angry” Americans matches the mood of the country in 2010 when Republicans took back control of the House.