Remember the good ole days when we all had that one guy we were united against? Well, he's still around and I couldn't let this go without a mention, per ARG (h/t mcjoan):

George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has dropped to a new low in American Research Group polling as 78% of Americans say that the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove.

This is a steep drop-off from January when Bush was enjoying a Broder bounce up to 34% approval. It looks like the drop is largely due to people's anxiety about the economy.

Overall, 14% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling the economy, 79% disapprove, and 7% are undecided. Among registered voters, 15% approve and 79% disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy. [...]

A total of 1% of Americans say that the national economy is getting better, 20% say it is staying the same, and 78% say the national economy is getting worse.

Wow.

The economic down-turn is not the only thing driving these numbers, though. I don't think we can look at this stunning rejection of Bush as at all separate from the presidential campaign. The poll was taken from Feb. 16-19, following a month when attention of the candidates of both parties was at its peak, and if this doesn't signal an embrace of the Democratic message, both on the incompetence of Bush and on the economy, and an absolute rejection of the Republican candidates whose message, such as it is, is essentially "more Bush!" I don't know what does.

In fact, I suspect we can look forward to further residual effects of the interest and excitement created by the Democratic candidates, including an increasing support for universal healthcare, fighting global warming and Iraq withdrawal. Actually, we arguably already are; DemFromCT brings us these numbers from a new Rasmussen Reports poll taken in mid-February:

61% of Americans would like to see U.S. troops brought home from Iraq within a year. That's up a point from a week ago and two points from two weeks ago.

Of course, while this certainly makes any attempt by Bush to salvage a legacy from his two disastrous terms as president more difficult, it's particularly problematic for John McCain who is already struggling with how to balance embracing the president whom Republicans still sort of like (although their approval has dropped to 45% according to ARG) and who's a boon for fundraising, and distancing him, which, by any objective measure, appears increasingly to be a political necessity. It also points to the importance of framing McCain's run for president, as mcjoan says, as "running for Bush's third term." McCain's continued viability in the general election polls makes it pretty clear that people don't yet see the Bush/McCain link. Let's make sure they do.

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In 1994, Republicans gained the majority in the House for the first time since the 1954 elections (won by the Democrats), picking up 54 net seats.  The surprising Republican majority was fashioned by winning 25 seat by a margin of inder 10,000 votes.  Roughly half of those seats still remain in Republican hands.  Without these 25 seats, Democrats would have held on by a 10 seat margin.  While some of these Republicans have disappeared, others have assumed even more prominence over the years.  John Ensign, who scraped by with a 1,400 seat win is now a US Senator.  Tom Coburn, another Senator, won by 6,500 votes that year.

A list of these narrow winners follows below the fold.

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