Gallup: Battle for Congress Suddenly Looks Competitive

On September 12, 2008 Gallup had an article about a recent poll:

A potential shift in fortunes for the Republicans in Congress is seen in the latest USA Today/Gallup survey, with the Democrats now leading the Republicans by just 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%, in voters' "generic ballot" preferences for Congress. This is down from consistent double-digit Democratic leads seen on this measure over the past year.

In response to the article, I wrote the following comment on a message board on September 15, 2008:

I  heard about this too and I am excited! My gut reaction was that the McCain/Palin ticket would encourage more people to consider Republicans for Congress. This is what I wrote to my uncle recently before I knew about this poll: "I don't understand why the Democrats are still considered popular and likely to gain congressional seats. Congress has a 9% approval rating which is a record low; the President is 3 or 4 times higher than that. A majority of people want offshore drilling and the top leaders of the Democrats keep delaying it. The surge has been a huge success and a lot of Democrats refuse to acknowledge it. Nancy Pelosi voted down a proposal to delay their vacation and she is using the time to promote her book which has been a huge failure. It seems like they haven't accomplished anything and they just waste their time on fluff issues and hearings. One guy was debating whether to legalize marijuana and they issued a statement apologizing for slavery." 

Does anyone have specific numbers for Pelosi? I know Sheehan wants to run against her. I heard a talk radio host say it was 18% and the Republicans should start running ads saying 80 vs 18.

I also posted a link, but it doesn't work anymore:

I  found some encouraging information from an Rasmussen article about three weeks ago:

Indicative of the low opinion most voters have of Congress were the findings in another survey earlier this week of members of the leadership's own party. Just 37% of Democrats say they have a favorable opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while 51% have an unfavorable view of her. One-quarter (25%) of Democrats rate their view of the San Francisco Democrat as Very Favorable, but 14% see her in a Very Unfavorable light.

The news is even worse for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is viewed favorably by 22% of Democrats and unfavorably by 41%. Six percent (6%) of Democrats have a Very Favorable view of the Nevada senator, but 8% regard him Very Unfavorably.