1. Americans’ confidence in the economy was extremely negative. This negative sentiment about the economy created a difficult environment for President Obama and the Democrat majority in Congress.
2. The difficult economy helped create the highest wrong track percentage in the last five off-year elections (27% Right Direction/67% Wrong Track).
3. This election was nationalized around attitudes about President Obama (Job Rating – 43% Approve/56% Disapprove).
4. Even more voters than in 2006 cast their Congressional ballot according to their approval or disapproval of President Obama compared to President Bush.
5. Looking at the past five mid-term elections, this is the highest percentage of voters ever saying their vote was in opposition to the President (40%).
6. Independents make or break an election.  This election data continues to show the Republican trend among Independents we witnessed in NJ, VA, and MA.
7. Republicans totally dominated the issue playing field in this election.
8. This dominance on the issue landscape helped create a high watermark in the Republican vote.  Consistent with the results of this decade’s re-districting; there is a close correlation between votes cast and seats gained.

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