Virginia and NJ vote for GOPers; Obama not a factor.

You’ll hear it, and soon: “the people are tired of Obama already, and we can expect huge gains for the GOP in coming elections.” Exit polling suggests differently, however.

Yes, there are two major GOP gains: Virginia and NJ have both just voted in Republicans for their respective Governors. According to initial reports, this is due to a lack of turnout on the Democratic side, possibly due to unrest within the party concerning many (not all, but many) Democratic politicians lacking the backbone to stand up to teabaggers with Big Health on their side on the issue of the much-needed Public Option. One thing appears clear, however: Obama ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.

Still, majorities of voters in both states (55 percent in Virginia and 60 percent in New Jersey) said President Obama was not a factor in their vote today. Those who said Mr. Obama was a factor in New Jersey divided as to whether their vote was a vote for the president (19 percent) or against him (20 percent). In Virginia, slightly fewer voters said their vote was for Mr. Obama (18 percent) than against him (24 percent).

Among Corzine supporters in New Jersey, 38 percent said one reason for their vote was to express support for Mr. Obama, while 39 percent of Christie voters said it was to express opposition to Mr. Obama.

Keep this in mind as the GOP spin machine makes this into an anti-Obama vote. They will, as usual, read waaaaay to far into these election results. If there’s one thing Republicans are good at, it’s misreading the populace.