Tucked away in recent polls—which have documented the extraordinary anger directed at the Republican Party during the shutdown crisis—are measures of clear disappointment with the Democratic Party. The disappointment is substantial, and it raises big questions about the 2014 midterms.
The Republican Party's favorable ratings fell substantially in most every national survey that uses this yard stick, declining to 28% in the Gallup poll at one point. Yet when the GOP was matched up against the Democrats on key political measures, it did not look so bad.
A mid-October Pew Research national poll found that a plurality regard the Republicans as "better able to deal with the economy" than the Democrats (44%-37%). Independents favored the GOP on the economy by a whopping 46%-30% margin in that survey.
One clear troubling sign for the Democrats at this early stage is independent voters, who decide most elections. They are evenly divided, according to Pew's mid-October survey: 43% say that "if the elections for Congress were being held today," they would vote for the Republican candidate in their district, 43% say they would vote for the Democratic candidate.
It is not too much of an oversimplification to say that Democrats are struggling because President Obama is struggling.
At the start of Mr. Obama's second term 52% approved of the job he was doing, 40% disapproved in the Pew Research January national survey. His job-approval ratings reversed by October: 43% approved and 51% disapproved. In Thursday's Gallup survey, Mr. Obama's job approval was 42%.
The economy and ObamaCare's inauspicious debut are likely the most powerful drags on the president and in turn on his party. In a September Pew survey, 63% of Americans say the nation's economic system is no more secure today than it was before the 2008 market crash.Read the rest of the article HERE.
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