Very good news about voter party identification .... link

[Alhena]

This Pew poll is from March, but includes almost 6,000 voters and was designed solely to analyze voter identification. The "money" quote as far as I'm concerned related to party ID in the swing states:

"Four years ago there were about as many Democrats (35%) as Republicans (33%) in the 12 states where the voting was closest in 2004, and the balance was similar in the 2000 election cycle. But so far in 2008, Democrats hold a substantial 38% to 27% identification advantage in these states."

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/773/fewer-voters-identify-as-republicans

Party ID has only been stable in the hard-core red states that we won't win anyway:

"The balance of party identification in "red" states -- where George Bush won by more than five points in 2004 -- has been more stable. Throughout the last three election cycles, there have been roughly as many Democrats as Republicans in these 24 states collectively. Currently, 33% of voters in these states call themselves Republicans, 33% call themselves Democrats, and 34% choose neither party."

Overall, these are the numbers:

"In 5,566 interviews with registered voters conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press during the first two months of 2008, 36% identify themselves as Democrats, and just 27% as Republicans. The share of voters who call themselves Republicans has declined by six points since 2004, and represents, on an annualized basis, the lowest percentage of self-identified Republican voters in 16 years of polling by the Center."

You've got to think that the economic crisis has made even more people identify with Democrats.