Washington Post political maven Chris Cillizza identifies three numbers that particularly strike him from the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of voter attitudes. The first is 41%, the smallest number approving of President Obama's performance yet recorded by this pollster. Presidential approval is positively correlated with party performance in midterm elections.
The second is 44%, the percentage of respondents who said a congressperson's position on national issues would be more important than how well they take care of constituent issues for the district. Translation: being for Obamacare and Obama will be bad juju in November.
The third number is 33%, one voter in three said their vote in November would signal opposition to Obama, while only 24% said their vote would signal their approval. This suggests an enthusiasm gap between the two parties.
Per Cillizza, all three numbers suggest Dems will have tough sledding in the November midterm elections.
