There have been a slew of new polls today all showing good news for Democrats just four weeks before the election. The latest confirmation comes from the Washington Post/ABC News poll which was released within the late this afternoon. According to Broder and Balz, Democrats have "regained a commanding position" for the upcoming election. A look at the numbers explains why:
Congressional approval has plunged to its lowest level in more than a decade (32 percent) and by a margin of 54-35 percent, Americans say they trust Democrats over Republicans to deal with the biggest problems facing the country. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said congressional Democrats in Congress deserve to be reelected in November, but just 39 percent said Republicans deserve to be returned to office.Bush has dropped to a 39% approval in this poll. It appears that while the combination of the continuing out of control violence in Iraq and the Foley scandal are bringing down GOP support, Iraq is by far the dominant issue. People just don't trust Bush -- and they don't have confidence in his abilities especially on Iraq. The GOP has never questioned or challenged Bush's "stay the course" strategy and now they are paying a price. Across the panoply of issues, the Republicans are in trouble -- they've even lost support on their favorite political issue -- terrorism:
The poll measures broad public attitudes and cannot be translated directly into individual House districts, but it sketches an environment that is as difficult for the Republicans as they have faced since they took power in the 1994 elections. By a margin of 54-41 percent, registered voters said they planned to vote for the Democrat over the Republican in House races next month.
The new Post-ABC News poll suggests there are few issues Republicans can use to appeal successfully to voters over the next four weeks. When asked which party they trust to handle various issues, Democrats lead on every subject, with margins ranging from 33 percentage points on health care, 19 points for ethics, 17 points for the economy, 13 points each for Iraq and immigration.Okay, again, there are four weeks til the election. Everyone has to redouble their efforts between now and then to make sure these numbers hold.
Even on terrorism, which Republicans hoped to turn into a powerful issue this fall, Democrats are trusted by six percentage points, reversing an seven-point deficit in the September poll.
