Democrats are still quite popular in the Northeast and unpopular in the South, but they've lost significant ground in the West and Midwest since late February, four months ago, even though Republicans, who are far less popular, continue losing popularity as well. If the GOP's intention is to disgust people with politics, in direct opposition with Obama's attempt to bring sweetness and light, the GOP seems to be succeeding--and Democrats in general are paying the price, both in party popularity, and in the popularity of congresional Democrats.
The last DKos weekly poll in July shows more of the same. Here are the latest figures, showing Congressional Democrats barely hanging on to a net favorability of +3 outside the South, with the party itself at -3 favorability naitonwide. Nobody likes the GOP outside the South--12% favorable is the best they can do regionally, but now the Dems have lost almost all their regional net favorability:
And here are the changes from late June, which show both parties losing support almost equally:
Here's how things stood in late February, with the Dems strong everywhere outside the South, both as a party and in Congressional support. Even in the South, the Dems' net favorability was close to the GOP's (within 4 points in Congress and 10 points in party favorability):
And here's how things have changed since then:
The Dems party favorability has plummeted in the West and Midwest as well as the South. The Reps have lost 10 points more in the Midwest, while the losses are even in the West. Dem losses in congressional approval have been less extreme--but then, there was less to lose, and an 18 point drop in the West can't be seen as anything else but very bad news.
Give the utter disintegration of the GOP, who are now at the point of babbling incoherent conspiracy theories, the fact that the Dems have lost roughly the same amount of ground since February can only be seen as a sign of dramatic policy and message failure in the face of no serious political opposition.
This is not just Open Left opinion here. These numbers are terrible. If the GOP still existed as anything vaguely resembling a political party, people would be quivering in their boots. But if the Dems can't stop falling apart like this soon, there won't be that much difference between the two former parties by the time of the 2010 elections.
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