Polling News

Today's news contains several polls with bad news for Republicans: AP polls 1,000 Americans, and noted that the President's approval held steady at 36% from the previous month, and that voters by 51%-40% say they intend to vote for the Democrat for Congress this year.

Fox News' latest poll shows the President's approval rating down a few points to 36%, and gives Democrats a slight edge on handling of Iraq, and a large edge on the economy and health care. Republicans hold the edge on terrorism and border security. It shows Republicans narrowing the Democratic advantage on the generic Congressional ballot test from 13 points to 8 points in the last month.

I would not read too much into these polls. There has been a nice upward trend for the President and Republicans generally in the last 6 weeks or so. There appears to be a bump here. But let's wait until we see a little more data, or a continuation of this trend, before growing concerned. Republicans are likely to benefit from enactment of a border security bill and other measures, so I think things are likely to improve.

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