Polls Show Big Dem Lead...Before Nuke Test

The lefties are trumpeting the results from the latest USATodayGallup poll:

WASHINGTON — Four weeks before congressional elections, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows Democrats hold a 23-point lead over GOP candidates. That's double the lead Republicans had a month before they seized control of Congress in 1994.

President Bush's approval rating was 37%, down from 44% in a Sept. 15-17 poll. The approval rating for Congress was 24%, down 5 points from last month.

The plummeting GOP ratings in the poll of 1,007 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, come after a series of dismal developments for the party. They include high levels of violence in Iraq; a National Intelligence Estimate that contradicted upbeat administration statements on Iraq; a new Bob Woodward book about internal White House disagreements over Iraq policy, and the Sept. 29 resignation of GOP Rep. Mark Foley hours after reports that he exchanged sexually explicit instant messages with teenage House pages.

Not so fast, lefties. This poll was conducted in the middle of Foleygate and before the news about the NoKo nuke test came out last night. I would expect to see a tightening of these numbers in the next poll.

Some of that, however, will depend on how the media plays the nuke test story. Last night, shortly after the story broke, my 10 pm local news ran the nuke test piece at the top of the show, but for only about 30 seconds. It was a Dragnet! report - just the facts, ma'am. No analysis of what happened or reaction from anyone important. There wasn't even any type of interview segment.

Then, about two stories later, they ran about a 3-4 minute piece on the latest news from Foleygate. Watching that show an uninformed person would have to think that the NoKo nuke test was important, but not as important as Foleygate. That could certainly skew the public's understanding of the relative importance of these stories.