New Gallup Poll Positive for GOP

Byron York reports in The Corner on the new Gallup Poll:

Gallup has just released a poll on the favorable/unfavorable ratings of the political parties, and it appears to show two things: One, neither party is viewed all that favorably, and two, at least for the moment, Republicans are on the way up and Democrats are on the way down.

Gallup asked respondents to "please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Republican party," and then asked the same question about Democrats. Forty-five percent of those polled say they have a favorable opinion of the GOP, while 48 percent say they have an unfavorable opinion, with seven percent having no opinion. The 45 percent favorable number is up five points from October, while the 48 percent unfavorable is down two points from the same time. The GOP favorable number is, however, down significantly from 56 percent favorable in February of this year.

For the Democrats, 46 percent say they have a favorable opinion of the party, while 45 percent have an unfavorable opinion, and nine percent have no opinion. The 46 percent favorable number is down six points from October, while the 45 percent unfavorable is up nine points from the same time. Also, the 46 percent favorable figure is down six points from the party's favorable rating in February.

In light of all the attention paid to the GOP's problems in the last few months, the Democrats' numbers are quite striking. Months of aggressive Democratic attacks on President Bush and the Republican party, on subjects ranging from the war in Iraq to the NSA wiretaps to the "culture of corruption," have led to...lower numbers for the Democratic party.

John Podhoretz chimes in:

Bush talks about Iraq, his numbers go up. Democrats talk trash on national security, their numbers go down. Simple. We're at war in Iraq and we're fighting a war on terror. Bush acted like he forgot about Iraq at the beginning of the year and the Dems are acting like they've forgotten about the war on terror at the end of the year.

Bottom line - the GOP numbers started improving, and the Dems started falling, when Bush started getting aggressive on Iraq. His first big speech was on Veteran's Day, and his numbers have improved since then.