ELECTION UPDATE – AT 8:22 A.M. ET:  We are a bit more than a month and a half away from the midterm elections, and Gallup is out with a poll revealing the report card the current Congress is getting from the American people.  Byron York at the Washington Examiner has the story:

The numbers: Bank bailouts, 61 percent disapprove versus 37 percent approve; national health care, 56 percent disapprove versus 39 percent approve; auto bailouts, 56 percent disapprove versus 43 percent approve; stimulus, 52 percent disapprove versus 43 percent approve. Only financial reform, with 61 percent approve versus 37 percent disapprove, is a winner for the representatives and senators seeking re-election.

Although the bank bailout was passed with significant bipartisan support, the news is terrible mostly for the House and Senate Democratic leadership. It's even worse for Democrats when you single out the opinions of independents. Just 32 percent of independents approve of the bank bailouts; 35 percent approve of national health care; 38 percent approve of the stimulus; and 40 percent approve of the auto bailouts. Sixty-two percent of independents approve of financial regulatory reform.

COMMENT:  Okay, Nancy Pelosi won't be elected Miss America.  The results for the Democrat-controlled House and Senate are catastrophic, but the key question is whether they can be turned into GOP votes.  Americans may disapprove, but a good fear campaign can find them voting for people they dislike...to avoid a larger catastrophe.

Many political pundits are now predicting that the Democratic base, indifferent to this election up to now, may in fact come alive and go to the polls on November 2nd out of fear that some program may be taken away from them.  If that happens, many of the assumptions of a Republican tsunami will be in doubt.  That is why these polls, while good for the morale, mean nothing in the end.  The Dems know how to scare people.  Mr. Obama is at it right now, going back into his one successful role, that of campaigner.  It's much easier than being president.  And some people will buy the line, the way they bought it in 2008.

September 13, 2010