Moe Lane points to some interesting trends in Rasmussen issue polling over the past few months, suggesting the “Democrats Ascendant” storyline is not all it seems to be. Just before last year’s election, the Democrats had a 13 point edge on economic issues, which is now down to 1 point. They even had a 3 point edge on handling national security, but today the GOP has a 7 point lead on those issues (and a 2 point lead on Iraq). Similarly, on taxes a 5 point Democratic lead has become a 6 point Republican lead. Here’s his full table:
| October 2008 | May 2009 | ||||||
| Issue | Dem | GOP | Diff | Dem | GOP | Diff | Cumulative Shift |
| Economy | 51% | 38% | 13 | 44% | 43% | 1 | (12) |
| Govt Ethics | 40% | 30% | 10 | 40% | 29% | 11 | 1 |
| National Sec. | 47% | 44% | 3 | 41% | 48% | (7) | (10) |
| Education | 53% | 34% | 19 | 49% | 36% | 13 | (6) |
| Healthcare | 54% | 34% | 20 | 53% | 35% | 18 | (2) |
| Taxes | 47% | 42% | 5 | 41% | 47% | (6) | (11) |
| Iraq | 47% | 42% | 5 | 41% | 43% | (2) | (7) |
| Social Security | 49% | 37% | 12 | 48% | 39% | 9 | (3) |
| Abortion | 47% | 38% | 9 | 41% | 41% | – | (9) |
| Immigration | 40% | 38% | 2 | 36% | 37% | (1) | (3) |
How the Democrats have managed to gain a point on government ethics in these past few months is a little hard to see, but there it is.
Just a few data points, not to be over-read, but interesting.