New Poll Shows That Democrats Could Have A Good November

As we await the results from Connecticut, a new poll gives more hope to Democrats-

Most Americans describe themselves as being in an anti-incumbent mood heading into this fall's midterm congressional elections, and the percentage of people who approve of their own representative's performance is at the lowest level since 1994, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll...

...Especially worrisome for members of Congress is that the proportion of Americans who approve of their own representative's performance has fallen sharply. Traditionally, voters may express disapproval of Congress as a whole but still vote for their own member, even from the majority party. But 55 percent now approve of their lawmaker, a seven-percentage-point drop over three months and the lowest such finding since 1994, the last time control of the House switched parties...

The most startling poll finding? On the question of "Which political party, the (Democrats) or the (Republicans), do you trust to do a better job handling the U.S. campaign against terrorism?", the results are: Democrats 46%, Republicans 38%. This reflects a major shift in the political zeitgeist and an undermining of the issue Karl Rove had been able to most successfully exploit.

Hopefully the beginning of the end of national security as a partisan issue.

Glenn Greenwald summarizes some of the other findings-

A majority of voters now disapprove of the way the president is handling every issue they were asked about, including the "U.S. campaign against terrorism" (by a 47 to 50 percent margin). The percent approving of the president's approach to terrorism is the lowest since this poll began asking the question in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks...

...An overwhelming majority of Americans continue to disapprove of the way the President is handling Iraq (36-62). And the unpopularity of the Iraq war itself is staggering. By a margin of 59 to 39 percent, Americans answer "no" to this question: "All in all, considering the costs to the United States versus the benefits to the United States, do you think the war with Iraq was worth fighting, or not?" Not only are "antiwar" sentiments the solidly mainstream position, but those who believe that the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do are part of an ever-shrinking minority.

And it should be noted that of those who participated in the poll, "Only 18 percent described themselves as 'liberal,' while 42 percent self-identified as 'moderate' and 38 percent as 'conservative'". Opposition to this war is, and has been for some time now, the mainstream opinion of this country.

Greenwald continues with a warning to Democrats-

Reflecting what I believe is the principal hurdle Democrats must overcome, a plurality (48-47) of Americans believe that "the Democrats ... are not offering the country a clear direction that's different from the Republicans." Given how unpopular the Republicans are, it is just inexcusable that Democrats are not aggressively distinguishing themselves from GOP policies.

This failure is primarily due to the fact that Democrats inexplicably continue to follow the chronically wrong and hopelessly fear-driven advice of their Beltway consultants -- echoed by the baseless warnings issued in the last couple of days by Marty Peretz and Cokie Roberts -- which instructs Democrats to avoid any decisive opposition to Republican policies (especially foreign policies) lest they alienate mainstream Americans (who, as this poll conclusively demonstrates, themselves have decisively rejected those very GOP policies).

Agreed. Hopefully a Lamont win tonight will bring them back to reality.

[PS- Off-topic from the November elections, but taking off from this poll... it also has some interesting results on how Americans view the ongoing Israel/Lebanon conflict. I would definitely say my personal point of view is reflected in the majority, who seem to be taking a fair look at it. See the Greenwald link above for details.

Yahoo has news updates on that war. See also my previous entry for my thoughts on it.]