The GOP openings have begun to be evident in Obama’s sagging approval ratings, which started in June and accelerated in July, alongside a steady loss the the Dem’s previously big edge in the “generic” Congressional polls and growing dissatisfaction with Obama’s stewardship of the economy and sveral of his “signature” programs, conspicously health care. To be sure, it remains to be seem whether this dissatisfaction will remain in the second half of 2010, but there is every reason fro GOPers to feel a lot more positive than they did just a few months ag.

I thought and continue to think that it was a big mistake or Obama and the Democratic leaders, along with so many journalists, pundits and other folks to buy into the notion that the 2008 election heralded some sweeping or historic political realignment, a shift to the left, or an era of Democratic dominance. One would have thought that such notions would not survive if only because the much-vaunted GOP dominance of just a few short years ago evaporated quickly enough in the face of public anger over the financial mess and the recession.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the map is not relevant at all to most of the House races that are likely to be heavily contested in 2010 (really, does anyone think Republicans have no chance in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, etc. because they are colred blue on this map?)and even some Senate races may be influenced more by issues that transcend party or ideology (eg, see Dodd v. Simmons or whatever happens to the Obama-Burris seat in Illinois).

It’s a mistake in the grand scheme of things to kill the public option, but I always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that that was trade goods.

When the system completely crashes in a few years we’ll cobble together something desperate that costs even more and solves fewer problems. Thus always with American politics. All that really matters is that the insurance companies get richer and the Blue Dogs get their PAC money. By the time the product really hits the fan the Dogs will be retired and the insurance companies will be diversified.

(Captcha: GIVE APRIL. Oh, don’t worry, Captcha, I always give in April.)

If you meant your point to be about one specific aspect (trust) you probably should have said so. Otherwise people are likely to misunderstand you and construe your words more broadly.

By “nothing” I mean that Republicans haven’t been able to make significant gains in trust. Americans are trusting Obama less, but Republicans are still at the bottom of the barrel. I wouldn’t call that willful blindness.

But hey, we’ll see. You also thought there was no way Obama would ever get elected. We saw how that turned out. ;-)

It is important to note that these categories only apply to a state population’s party leanings and are not necessarily indicative of a party’s electoral strength in that state.

I have other problems with believing one can draw any truly useful or usable conclusions from the poll, ones involving methodology and the meta-compiling of similar questions from differing polls. Even without those objections, the “shift” is tiny in comparison to Gallup’s 2008 poll, and the results being compiled over time (JAN– JUN 09) means it is not necessarily at all representative of what a poll done today would say.

Michael: Hee hee.

Of course it’s irrelevant. You want us to talk only about relevant polls? Are you trying to kill the internet?

Republicans win elections because the people who actually vote are much more evenly split.

Nothing? Heh. Willful blindness. It’s amusing how the economy is somehow not going to be an issue, or the ongoing war in Afghanistan, or…but you get the point, or should. There’s always something, and the party in power will get blamed for it. Especially when you own both houses and the White House to boot.

I agree the GOP lacks leadership that would appeal to swing voters on a national scale — they’re decidedly still little-tent focused right now, and their leadership such as it is reflects that. But I also note that next year is not national-scale races, but strictly Congress and state, which is local/regional effect.

Tip O’Neill was no dummy when he said that all politics is local.