Getting R's Into Office Is Only The First Step

Jillian Bandes | August 15, 2010 9:33 AM

Rhodes Cook highlights the low Democratic turnout that's expected in November's mid-term elections. Katrina vanden Heuvel talks about the divisive trends in the Democratic Party that could split their vote and threaten their electoral victories.

An Associated Press-GfK poll out today shows that Independents aren't putting for Dems at all.

Linda Feldmann over at the Christian Science Monitor takes it one step further. She says that once the Republicans gain more power in Congress, they're only going to have a limited amount of time to enact the reforms that voters elected them to make.

Everyone knows the Democratic Party is unpopular and that it stands to lose a substantial number of House and Senate seats come November, perhaps even control of one or both chambers.

But in fact, the public thinks worse of the Republicans, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. The poll shows 24 percent of Americans view the Republican Party positively, an all-time low in the poll’s 21-year history.

...Voters may support [Republicans] in November and give them big gains, but if they don’t deliver, they could be in trouble. This is particularly so if the Republicans take over at least the House and don’t accomplish much, they could be short-timers.
After all, it’s only been three-plus years since the Democrats took over both houses of Congress, and the pendulum has already swung sharply in the opposite direction.