Nate Silver takes a closer look...

...at the "enthusiasm gap." (If you don't read Nate Silver, you should.)

The enthusiasm gap has more to do with abnormally high levels of Republican interest in the election than with despondent Democrats.
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The passage of the health care bill was a galvanizing event for each party’s base, and since then, enthusiasm in both parties has receded some.

[But] 59 percent [of Republicans] were more enthusiastic than usual in Gallup’s polling. That easily eclipses previous years, when the number had stayed within a narrow band of 40 to 42 percent — and it is the immediate cause of the “enthusiasm gap.”
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... stories that cite the enthusiasm gap as evidence of malaise among the Democratic base are probably miswritten. Such stories may be ... burying the lead, which is the unprecedented level of political engagement by Republicans this year.

To me, it's all about fear, and the tea partiers are the most fearful of all.

When the economy picks up again some day, and people find out that the health care bill is actually a good thing, much of this fear -- like kidney stones -- will pass.