This is interesting, courtesy of MSNBC's "First Read: The Day in Politics."
The most striking thing about the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is the damage that's been done to the GOP brand. Bush is not only unpopular (his approval rating is just 29% and favorability is only 32% -- both all-time lows for him). But his unpopularity also is dragging down the image of the Republican Party to its lowest level ever in this survey (28% positive rating). For better or worse, the GOP needs Bush to improve if they want the party's image to improve.
This is amazing bad for the Republicans, obviously, but fortunately for them this is an off year. But wait! Here in Virginia we've got elections for all seats in the General Assembly, one of the few states in the country with legislative elections. In other words, here in Virginia will be the national test of whether sinking GOP approval ratings nationally will translate into local losses at the polls. My guess is that they will, the only question is, to what extent.
One hopes. But what I'm afraid of is that the old double standard might kick in. Quite often, people will say "party X stinks. But. My own representative/candidate, even though he's from the same party... he's OK". This "personal skew" can kick in quite forcefully, especially if voting for change also means voting accross the aisle.
I do wish more polls were asking not just about "generic Dem" vs "generic GOPian", but follow up with a question about the polled-person's representative, specifically.