Hove I ever told you no one likes Republicans? Actually, I think I have. These are data that poll after poll shows us, and on Sunday, Chris Cillizza rounds up some recent ones. Cillizza:
There is no great affection for the Republican Party in this country, a senior Obama administration official said last week. That creates the opportunity for competitive races district by district.
The official noted that the GOP's unpopularity marks a critical difference between the election this November and 1994, when the party's sweep of more than 50 seats won it the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years. Then, the official argued, Republicans had been out of power for more than four decades and voters were ready to try something different. This time, voters know what they would be getting with Republicans in charge and don't like it, the source said.
AP Congressional approval/disapproval
Dems 38/60
Reps 31/68
CBS/NY Times, 9/15
Dems 30/58
Reps 20/68
ABC/WaPo, deserve reelection
Dems 34
Reps 31
Brendan Nyhan posted a terrific graphic at pollster.com, while arguing the end result is still a GOP generic ballot lead:
What does it mean? Hard to know in terms of November, though the experts will tell you it means Democrats are likely to lose the House. The Senate, with O'Donnell running in DE, seems a safer bet to stay D, with or without Harry Reid (who, thanks to Sharron Angle, is the luckiest politician in America.)
But what it also clearly means is that Americans are frustrated with the lack of progress on the economy, even as they still rightly blame Bush for getting us in this hole (see Bush Still Takes Brunt of Blame for Economy vs. Obama.) As the party in power, Dems will take the brunt of that.
And it means GOTV matters more than ever.
But what it doesn't mean is that Republicans and their (lack of) ideas are popular.