One more poll

It's not looking good for the Thuglicans when half the voters say the most recent disclosures will significantly influence their vote in November.

WASHINGTON Oct 5, 2006 (AP)— Congressional Republicans, already struggling against negative public perceptions of Congress, now face voters who say new scandals will significantly influence their vote in November.

With midterm elections less than five weeks away, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that about half of likely voters say recent disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important when they cast their vote next month.

The poll of 1,501 adults, including 741 likely voters, occurred Monday through Wednesday as House Republican leaders came under increasing pressure to explain what they knew of sexually explicit messages from former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida to teenage pages.

More troubling for Republicans, the poll found that by a margin of nearly 2-to-1 likely voters says Democrats would be better at combatting political corruption than Republicans.

I'm not counting chickens yet since the Democrats seem to have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed behind my back.

I've been waiting for the noon update of the Rasmussen Bush approval poll, but it seems to have been delayed. We'll see if there's any movement there soon.