Exit Polls: Obama as (non) factor?

[Joanne98]

The early exit polls in Virginia and New Jersey are in (out?) and the most striking thing to us in the data is that a majority of voters in both states said that President Barack Obama was not a factor in their vote and in each state the chief executive's job approval rating was above 50 percent.

While these are early returns -- we CAN'T emphasize that strongly enough -- they do suggest that Obama's role in determining the outcome of either race (for good or bad) may have been overstated (gasp!) in the run-up to today's vote.

That doesn't mean, of course, that across-the board defeats for Democrats tonight wouldn't be cast -- at least in some circles -- as a refutation of Obama but it does provide the president's party with a potentially powerful push back assuming the numbers stay the same.

And for those who want to know what the head-to-head matchups look like in the exit polls, you're out of luck. No data about the direction of a specific race can be released until polls close in a particular state.

Until then....

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/governors/exit-polls-obama-as-non-factor-1.html?wprss=thefix

[emulatorloo]

1. REC n/t

[usregimechange]

2. kick

[hypocrisyandlies]

3. "at least in some circles"

And we all know which circles they are referring to...