You know that intensity gap we've been worried will bite us in the ass come election day? The one that convinced everybody and their brother that John Boehner should start measuring the drapes in the Speaker's office?
Well, about that intensity gap (from PPP's Tom Jensen):
Republicans have been extremely excited about voting in this election all the way since the summer of 2009. GOP voters really can't get any more enthused about voting this year than they already are. Democrats have been significantly lagging on this front for most of the cycle but there are indications it's getting better. For instance our July national poll found 51% of Democrats 'very excited' about voting this fall. In September that figure had increased to 59%.
Not only has Democratic enthusiasm jumped to 59% being "very excited" (up from 51%), but in key races around the country, there are far more undecided Democrats than Republicans. For example, in Wisconsin's Senate race, 40% of undecideds are Democrats compared with just 16% who are Republican.
This of course doesn't mean everything is copacetic for Dems, but it means that (a) things are heading in the right direction and (b) there's fertile ground to win undecideds back to the Democratic column. It also suggests that if there's one thing that Republicans could change about this campaign cycle, it would be to eliminate September and October. They'd have loved nothing more than jumping straight from August to election day.