NYT/CBS Poll: Obama Coalition Falling Apart

Turns out that Obama coalition of 2008 might have been a lot more tenuous than people thought.
Indeed, only two short years ago many pundits saw the Obama election as a major, long-range shift in voter sentiment -- a significant realingment.
But now things look very, very different.
A just-released New York Times/CBS News poll says the Obama coalition of 2008 is breaking up.
Here's how the Times describes it:

Critical parts of the coalition that delivered President Obama to the White House in 2008 and gave Democrats control of Congress in 2006 are switching their allegiance to the Republicans in the final phase of the midterm Congressional elections.

And there's more.
The switch among women has been dramatic. The gender gap has disappeared:

In the case of women — a traditionally Democratic-leaning group that the White House has been courting actively in recent weeks — the shift toward the Republicans was marked in the latest poll, especially when compared with their stated preferences in the last Times/CBS poll, in mid-September.
In the earlier poll, women favored Democrats over Republicans by seven percentage points. In the latest poll, women said they were likely to support a Republican over a Democrat by four percentage points, suggesting Republican gains among women who were undecided as of last month.
But the shift extended geographically, as well. Among poll respondents from the Western United States, more said they expected to vote for Republicans this year than said they expected to vote for Democrats; majorities of voters from that region voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 and for Congressional Democrats in 2006, according to the exit polls taken in those elections.

As for Nancy Pelosi, she remains public enemy Number One And she continues to cost Democrats votes:

The Democratic House speaker, Representative Nancy Pelosi, clearly emerged as a political liability for her party in the latest Times/CBS poll. Over all, 43 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Ms. Pelosi; 15 percent had a favorable opinion, and 40 percent said they had no opinion.

Click here to read the full story at the New York Times.