is it Wednesday yet? Why... apparently it is!
The Arena: The pundits wrestle with Republican unpopularity.
Christopher Orr:
The latest New York Times poll is loaded with good news for the Obama administration and news that would be devastating for the GOP if it were ever able to penetrate the conservative-media echo chamber. While the public is still pretty pessimistic about the future, it's considerably less so than it was before Barack Obama took office.
Amy Walter:
This sounds shocking on its face -- Obama more polarizing than Bush after the 2000 election? [see Pew poll] But it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. After all, when a president pushes -- and passes -- an agenda that leans heavily on government spending, Democrats rally around him while Republicans move away from him. Our own polling backs up this theory.
It's all about independents.
Charlie Cook: It's all about independents.
Kevin Friedl:
The checks-and-balances argument likely has special appeal to voters who don't identify with either party -- of the three polls, Fox's showed the heaviest preference for the GOP among independents -- and could explain why these voters seem willing to consider the opposition party even as they say they see signs of improvement. The difference is still relatively small, but the GOP has 18 months to press the point.
It's all about independents.
Jon Meacham:
To the surprise of liberals who fear the advent of an evangelical theocracy and to the dismay of religious conservatives who long to see their faith more fully expressed in public life, Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.
Newsweek:
A nation facing problems of biblical proportions appears to be looking less and less to religion for answers. According to a new NEWSWEEK Poll, the percentage of Americans who think faith will help answer all or most of the country's current problems dipped to a historic low of 48 percent, down from 64 percent in 1994.
The Opinionator:
Michelle’s snubbing designers? “I don’t know whether to shake with laughter or with disbelief!” wrote Dmitcha, an African-American who’s a former model and a diarist at Daily Kos.
Gallup: