“This isn’t about how you’re going to position Republicans,” Winston said. “This is about how are you going to position the president if he’s going to have a chance to win re-election.”

To read the full article, click to usatoday.com

•About half have a college degree or higher. That’s more than Iowa adults or Americans in general.
•The proportion who consider themselves born-again Christians hits in the high-40 percent range, slightly above the range for the rest of the nation.
•Mirroring the national picture, they’re more likely to be male, evidence of the classic gender gap between Republican voters and Democratic voters.

But even knowing the type of person the typical Iowa caucusgoer is, it’s too early to tell how turnout will be.

“If it snows heavily it could be a completely different turnout,” Republican pollster David Winston said. “You’re trying to put your finger on mercury a little bit.”

To read more, turn to usatoday.com

“He’s got to realize the reason he lost independents,” says Winston of the president. “He thinks it was about communications. It wasn’t. It was about substance and policy.”

Read more at the Washington Examiner

Most folks I talk to say that in order for Rubio to have a fighting chance against Crist, he needs to bring down Crist’s favorables. Of course, that strategy might yield a slight bump in standing, but I don’t believe it is nearly enough to win. Voters already assume politicians do what they need to do to get elected. They already assume Crist has made politically motivated moves in this race. And they vote for him anyways. The problem isn’t Crist’s favorables, the problem is Rubio’s neutral brand image among independents. And the way for Rubio, Crist, or Meek (or any candidate in any race, for that matter) to build that brand is to become the leader on the issue of the economy and jobs.

To read Soltis’ entire piece, turn to pollster.com

If Obama’s numbers continue to slide, his policy agenda is at serious risk. Don’t think for one moment that members of the House and Senate don’t pay attention to these national polls. They do, especially those who find themselves in competitive races. Equally important, their own internal state or district polls will likely also have a presidential job approval question. Whether Obama is under 50% or under water back home could and, in many cases, will impact their voting behavior in D.C.

To read all of David’s article, turn to pollster.com