Despite recent coverage of shifting attitudes toward the war in Iraq and the Democratic Congress, the latest public polls show the country’s political environment remains fundamentally unchanged, with President Bush and Republicans in Congress still deeply unpopular and Democrats maintaining a significant electoral advantage at the congressional level one year before the next election. Broad disapproval of Congress as an institution reflects the massive change dynamic still driving the electorate and is not directed at the new Democratic leadership.
For the first time in decades, national security has become a potentially winning issue for Democrats according to the latest Democracy Corps survey. In fact, Democrats have now reached parity with the Republicans on the most important measures of national security, and lead the Republicans on other crucial aspects of who the public trusts most in foreign policy. In their new Democracy Corps strategy memo, Jeremy Rosner, Stan Greenberg, and James Carville discuss the changed political environment around national security and how Democrats can take advantage of their increasing gains on the issue.
