The poll detailed a broader factor likely to color the contest: The electorate is angry and disaffected. Half of voters now identify either with the tea-party or Occupy Wall Street movements. Fifty-four percent see the economic troubles as the start of a long-term national decline, not a tough period the U.S. will get through…

At the same time, 53% of the country believes—and 33% believe strongly—that the national debt and the size of government must be cut significantly, that regulations on business should be pared back, and that taxes shouldn’t be raised on anybody…

A year before Election Day, intensity appears to be on the Republican side. Fifty-seven percent of those who voted for Republican John McCain in 2008 say they are more enthusiastic to vote in the coming election than past elections, compared with 41% of 2008 Obama voters. Forty-five percent of Obama voters say they are less enthusiastic than in past elections…