--BIGGEST GOP MIDTERM ADVANTAGE SINCE 1942 -- Gallup.com, “GOP Takes Unprecedented 10-Point Lead on Generic Ballot: Republicans also maintain wide gap in enthusiasm about voting,” by Frank Newport: “Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP's largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup's history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress. These results are based on aggregated data from registered voters surveyed Aug. 23-29 … The Republican leads of 6, 7, and 10 points this month are all higher than any previous midterm Republican advantage in Gallup's history of tracking the generic ballot, which dates to 1942. … Republicans' presumed turnout advantage, combined with their current 10-point registered-voter lead, suggests the potential for a major 'wave' election in which the Republicans gain a large number of seats from the Democrats and in the process take back control of the House. One cautionary note: Democrats moved ahead in Gallup's generic ballot for several weeks earlier this summer, showing that change is possible between now and Election Day.”http://bit.ly/cua1v7
--NEW THIS MORNING - “AP-GfK Poll: Most attuned voters tilt toward GOP,” by Alan Fram: “Americans with the strongest opinions about the country's most divisive issues are largely unhappy with how President Barack Obama is handling them, an ominous sign for Democrats hoping to retain control of Congress in the fall elections. In nine of 15 issues examined in an Associated Press-GfK Poll this month, more Americans who expressed intense interest in a problem voiced strong opposition to Obama's work on it, including the economy, unemployment, federal deficits and terrorism. They were about evenly split over the president's efforts on five issues and strongly approved of his direction on just one: U.S. relationships with other countries. In another danger sign for Democrats, most Americans extremely concerned about 10 of the issues say they will vote for the Republican candidate in their local House race. Only those highly interested in the environment lean toward the Democrats.”
--NEW THIS MORNING -- Nearly all of the gains Democrats have made in public approval of the health care overhaul since it passed in March have been washed away, according to the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll for August. During August, support for the overhaul fell 7 percentage points to 43 percent, and opposition rose 10 points to 45 percent, the weakest showing since May, according to the poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. -Jennifer Haberkorn Poll documents http://bit.ly/9MjRk9