The new Pew poll that Ed discussed earlier today has some bad news for Republicans beyond Barack Obama's success in rebounding from the Wright controversy. Its "right track/wrong track" assessment shows "[j]ust 22% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the country, the lowest percentage observed in any Pew Research Center survey since the fall of 1993." We all remember what happened to the party holding the White House in 1994, eh?

Undergirding this latest lurch of public opinion into a great dismal swamp of disatisfaction is a dramatic deterioration of confidence in the economy. The percentage of Americans saying the economy is "poor" has doubled--from 28% to 56%--in just the last two months. Altogether, 11% rate the economy as "excellent" or "good," and again, that's almost exactly how Americans felt in August 1993. 55% of Republicans currently say the economy is in recession or depression.

The current upsurge in violence in Iraq may be the least of the incumbent party's problems come election day.