Obama and Independents

The thing I found most surprising in our Florida poll had nothing to do with Charlie Crist- it was Barack Obama's positive 54/42 approval spread with independents. Out of the 20 different states we've polled in the last six months that makes it just the fourth where he's been on positive ground with independents, joining South Dakota, Delaware, and Arizona. And it's the first one of those states where he's been above 50%. I suppose if he had to pick a state to do better with those folks Florida might be it.

Obama's average approval with independents across the last 20 states we've polled is 38/53. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to where he's doing well. The states where he has the worst numbers are southern states where he lost by wide margins in 2008- Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas. Perhaps more worrisome is that he's at 35% or worse in three of the states that he flipped last time- Virginia, Nevada, and New Mexico- as well as Missouri where he came the closest without winning.

Here's the full data:

State	Obama Approval w/ Independents
Florida	54/42
Arizona	50/42
Delaware	48/45
Connecticut	47/47
South Dakota	45/44
Maine	45/45
Alaska	43/49
Wisconsin	42/50
South Carolina	41/51
North Carolina	40/53
New Jersey	40/48
Georgia	36/59
Nevada	35/61
Massachusetts	33/52
Virginia	32/57
Missouri	32/59
Arkansas	28/68
New Mexico	27/64
Kentucky	23/67
Texas	19/70