From the very liberal ABC News department: their polls show the GOP is much better shape than the hapless Democrat Party for 2010.

The Republican Party has grown dramatically more competitive in public trust to handle the country's most pressing issues, capitalizing on seething economic discontent and doubt about President Obama's performance to challenge the Democrats in midterm election preferences.

President Barack Obama talks to reporters following his meeting with Congressional Democrats and Republicans appealing for bipartisanship on fixing the economy, in the White House press briefing room in Washington, Feb. 9, 2010.

(J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Among registered voters in this ABC News/Washington Post poll, 48 percent say they'd support the Republican candidate in their congressional district if the midterm elections were today, 45 percent the Democrat. That's a rare level of GOP support in nearly three decades of polls.

Click here for a PDF with charts and questionnaire.

Other measures also have tightened sharply since fall. Among all Americans, the Democrats' lead in trust to handle the country's main problems has dwindled to a slim 6 points, 43-37 percent, down from 33 points – a record in a generation of polls – after Barack Obama's election.

Disapproval of Congress, at 71 percent, matches its highest since 1994, when the GOP swept to control in a midterm rout of the Democrats. Americans by a 20-point margin say they're inclined to look around for someone new to support for Congress. And by a 13-point margin, 48 to 35 percent, Americans call themselves anti-incumbent rather than pro-incumbent – not quite the levels in 1994 or 2006 (when the Democrats regained control) but broad nonetheless.

Economy Drives Anti-Incumbent Sentiment

A main mover in these sentiments is the public's longstanding economic discontent. Eighty-eight percent say the recession is not over. More than half don't think the economy's even begun to recover, and most of them don't think it'll start improving for more than a year. Among those who do say a recovery has begun, three-quarters say it's a weak one.

Negative economic views are closely associated with anti-incumbency and a preference for Republican candidates alike. With 9.7 percent unemployment, Obama and the Democrats are rediscovering the maxim that in politics, absent an unpopular war, there's nothing as bad for the party in power as a bad economy.

Source: ABC News

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