Democrats Lag in Voter Registration as enthusiasm for Obama dwindles

From the Wall Street Journal:

Catalist, [a progressive voter database company], whose clients include liberal and civic groups as well as Democratic candidates, uses a system that considers commercial and other political data, as well as partisan registration where it exists, to analyze the leanings of voters. It found that in North Carolina, half of all people who registered to vote in 2008 were oriented toward the Democrats, and about 20% were oriented toward Republicans, a 30-percentage-point advantage for Democrats.

Since then, that advantage has been erased. Republican-oriented voters have run slightly ahead of presumed Democratic voters in new registrations in North Carolina throughout 2010 and 2011.

The picture is similar among new registrations nationally. Democrats had a 2-to-1 advantage in 2008, but in the most recent quarter, Republicans were slightly ahead...

For his part, Mr. Obama's problems include a sluggish economy and the fact that he's no longer a fresh face but a sitting president...