Rural Voters Poll Part 2

The Center for Rural Strategies has released the results of its second round of polling of rural voters in 41 contested congressional districts. I blogged the original poll here and posted follow-up comments from CRS Vice President Tim Marema here back in September

Here are the key findings of the follow-up poll:

• Rural battleground voters have shifted toward Democratic
  candidates since our first poll in mid-September.


• These voters favor Democratic House of Representative candidates
  by 13 points (52-39). In September rural voter preferences were
  evenly split among House candidates


• In contested Senate races, rural voters favor Democratic
  candidates by 4 points, 47-43, reversing the 4-point lead
  Republicans held in September.


• Concern about the war is a top issue for 38 percent of the
  respondents. In September, 28 percent of respondents named the war
  as a top concern.

My main concerns with this otherwise overwhelmingly good news (for Democrats) is the turnout issue. Will these voters be turned off by what seems to me to be one of the most negative campaign climates in recent memory? Most of the time rural voters, who also tend to be older, are one of the most dependable voter categories from a turnout standpoint.

This poll also reinforces what I've been trying to get through the heads of people at the local party: It's the War Stupid!

Oh well, too late now. All efforts now turn to GOTV and let the chips fall where they may.