By Rick Manning
As originally published at the Washington Examiner.
A recent Gallup poll of registered voters shows that voter enthusiasm is at a 20-year low-point based upon responses to a question that has been asked and tracked since the Contract with America election in 1994.
The question is simply, “Compared to previous elections, are you more enthusiastic about voting than usual, or less enthusiastic?”
The acceleration of the number of respondents who are less enthusiastic to vote is a direct reversal of attitudes from just four years ago when the Republicans took back control of the House in the Tea Party election.
Now, both sides face an enthusiasm gap with Democrats trying to find the prescription to cure Obamacare depression and Republican leadership successfully using every media and legislative opportunity to beat their base into submission.
While analysts will make the point that this is the inevitable result of a six-year presidential cycle for the incumbent party, the poll belies the current D.C. wisdom that Republicans will sweep to victory in November.
As inside-the-Beltway Republicans work to push corporate cronyism and outright pandering like immigration reform, many of their core voters back home have given up hope that the system can change.
They have seen the same people who enthusiastically embraced limited government in rallies just four years ago vote for the same big government programs that they vowed to eliminate.
They have grown wise to the every-two-years platitudes of support for cutting the size and scope of government, and have matched the rhetoric to the disappointing actual results.
Most importantly, for the first time in 20 years, a majority of registered voters (only about 70 percent of the eligible adults) are essentially declaring that their vote really doesn’t matter.
