Despite Republican losses in the last two national elections, polling data indicate that the GOP has the potential for big gains thanks to conservatives’ strength among independent voters, according to pollster John Zogby.

A Zogby International Interactive poll of more than 2,290 likely voters found that twice as many independents identify their political ideology as conservative than as liberal.

Conservatives account for 25 percent of independents, while liberals comprise 13 percent, with almost all the rest saying they are moderates.

Also, independents are much more likely to say that Democrats are too liberal (63 percent) than to say Republicans are too conservative (40 percent). And 28 percent of independents think Republicans should be more conservative, while only 12 percent believe Democrats should be more liberal.

Among Republicans, 58 percent say the party is not conservative enough.

The GOP “has failed to capture a significant number of conservatives and a majority of its own members think it is not conservative enough,” Zogby wrote in his column for Politics magazine.

Democrats need to win significant numbers of moderates to be competitive, he said, adding, “So do Republicans, but not to the same extent.”

“This is the challenge and the opportunity for the Republican Party today. The opportunity lies in the fact that it can grow to both its left as well as its right, and the challenge is to find a strategy that will lead to this growth on both sides,” he said.

I think we have all heard the bashing of Fox News as the White House – particularly Anita Dunn, White House communications director – has dubbed Fox News a “wing of the Republican Party”. Yet interestingly enough, that argument by the Obama Administration isn’t getting much traction.

According to a poll conducted for the League of American Voters by the Global Marketing Research Center, of those polled, 46% watch Fox News just about every day. Interesting numbers there except that the 46 percent in question are either Democrats or independents; also consider that 50% watch FNC several times a week or more.

Overall, the poll discovered that 21% watched Fox News every day and 18% watched the network several times a week. So combined, 39% watch Fox News Channel several times a week or more.

And there’s more:

• Among Democrats, 17 percent watched it several times each week or more.

• Among Independents, 46 percent watched the station several times each week or more.

• And among Republicans, 55 percent watched it several times each week or more.

Meanwhile, the poll discovered that 11% watch CNN just about every day and 20% watched the network several times a week or more; combined, 31% said they watch CNN several times a week or more. Then there’s BSNBC MSNBC.

According to the poll, 10% watch the network daily and just 8% watch MSNBC several times a week or more; combined, just 18% watch the network several times a week or more. By the way, so you can rest assured that this was not a poll conducted by some wing of the Republican Party, the poll was taken from a statistically valid national sample of 800 individuals. Of those respondents, 36% voted the Democratic ticket while 32% voted the GOP ticket; 24% stated they voted both parties equally.

Folks, I do not know about you, but this should provide ample evidence that Fox News Channel is not a “wing of the Republican Party”. Also keep in mind that FNC has Democrats on their payroll (Alan Colmes, Juan Williams, Bob Beckel to name a few), so the lame argument by the Obama Administration has no merit whatsoever. It also proves that the administration is actually scared of the network.

It certainly must suck to be President Obama these days, what with his popularity dropping, lack of support from the independents, certain factions (read: the Blue Dogs and others) within the Democratic Party and a rock-solid opponent in the Republican Party. The president, for all intents and purposes finds himself pinned against the wall because of one issue: his healthcare bill.

And I suspect that Obama will try to revive interest on his bill with using something that early in his presidency served him well: a sense of crisis. Remember Obama using the “worst economy since the Great Depression” statement? This will probably be no different, although I sense some tweaking in his message as he talks to labor leaders on Monday and addresses Congress on Wednesday.

Crisis enabler Rahm Emanuel, for reasons only known to him, has made the claim that the Obama administration has made “unprecedented” health care progress within the last eight months. Really? If so, then explain why the American people have turned out in droves to tea parties and town hall meetings. Except for the paid, union-supplied plants within the audiences, I am pretty certain that the populace aren’t attending the meetings to give praise to Obama and Congress in reference to current health care policy.

Emanuel, in his attempt to put lipstick on a pig (old and outdated, yet very true in this instance), said in an interview yesterday:

“We gave Congress a charge, we gave them broad outlines, which is the reason we are farther along than any of the five presidents that have tried. We’re not there yet, and this speech is intended to finish the job.”

Part of the problem in regards to this “health care crisis” is that if you set aside the actual number of people without insurance (young workers by and large and illegals), there isn’t really a true health care crisis. So you can assume that the message you hear should you opt to tune into to Obama yakking to Congress Wednesday will be one of more of the same and at the same time try to build a consensus.

One thing is for certain: expect Bush’s name to pop up at least omce during the address to Congress. Actually two things are for certain – the second being that this is Obama’s health care issue, right along with the economy. The finger-pointing is so January 2009.

To use a pro football euphemism, Obama is on offense with two minutes to go in the game and it is 4th down and long; you can assume safely that the Republicans, independents and certain Democrats are in “prevent defense” mode. This address, unlike ones in the past, will bear watching because of the potantial ramifications.