The time has come

On Tuesday, I was an exit poller for the third time. I worked outside in the cold rain for 14 hours, (having to stay until 11PM to get the final tally numbers for my location), asking every 8th person leaving the precinct if they would fill out a quick exit poll.

I did exit polling for the 2004 elections. Many more people in Delaware were willing (and even eager) to take part then. In the 2004 elections, the early reports (partly based on the exit polls) projected Kerry as the winner. Maybe in 2006, people were mad at the exit pollers based on the 2004 elections. Or maybe people in Maryland are just meaner.

However, I still got a good number of people to fill out the poll. The survey asked questions about Iraq, what to do about Iraq, approval of George Bush, etc. What I found very interesting was that even people who voted for Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Bush. Every person who voted Democrat said they did so to show disapproval of Bush.

It seems that the rest of the country felt the same way. Rumsfeld is gone, Allen just conceded the Senate race in Virginia, and the Democrats now have both the Congress and Senate.

Two years ago, when Bush was re-elected, I remember thinking that the people who voted for Bush would come to regret it. Obviously, many people did, and I can only hope that they will continue to regret it enough to elect a Democrat in 2008.