Charting a Course Correction

[[C A M P A I G N S]] * More good news for Democrats running for congressional seats in this year’s midterm elections. A new George Washington University Battleground poll finds Democrats favored over Republicans by likely voters, 46 percent to 40 percent, in a generic congressional ballot. When asked who they think would do a better job of solving the United States’ most pressing problems, 42 percent of respondents say Democrats, while only 33 percent choose members of the increasingly scandalized GOP. These disparities might have a great deal to do with where voters think the nation is heading in the near future. Sixty percent of them say things have gotten off on the wrong track, while a comparatively measly 32 percent believe things are heading in the right direction. Fifty-six percent of respondents disapprove of the job Congress has been doing lately, with just 37 percent approving. And 92 percent say that Congress is more concerned with partisan politics than looking after the needs of average Americans.

I disagree with the analysis of Republican Ed Goeas, when he says that voters aren’t in an anti-Republican mood--certainly, polls show that voters are not happy with the abundant failures and alleged misdeeds of George W. Bush and his fellow GOPers, and their displeasure is almost sure to be demonstrated at the polls in November. However, I think Goeas is correct in saying that America is currently in “an anti-Washington mood ... Washington is broken and needs to be fixed.” Unfortunately for Republicans, they’re the ones who are dominant in all three branches of the federal government today, and are therefore most likely to be punished by voters looking for sweeping change.

READ MORE: “House Republicans Could See 10 to 15 More Retirements,” by Peter Savodnik (The Hill); “Optimism,” by Joseph Hughes (Hughes for America).