Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Los Angeles Mayor and Democratic Convention Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa greet each other at the 2012 Democratic National Convention on Sept. 4, 2012, in Charlotte.
Over the past couple of weeks, a pair of Washington Post-ABC News polls have shown the Democratic Party's image hitting its lowest points in decades -- both the party in general and its congressional contingent.
The latter poll, released Sunday, showed congressional Democrats' disapproval rating is higher than it has been in at least 20 years.The reaction from the political left when we focus on such numbers is: Well, they're still in better shape than Republicans.
That's true. And it has long been that way -- so much so that former congressman Tom Davis (R-Va.) quipped in 2008 that the GOP brand amounted to "dog food." (Back then, we would add, 63 percent of Americans viewed the congressional GOP poorly. And it hasn't gotten any better since then.)
But it's also true that Democrats today need their image to be better than the GOP's. And as of now, the Democratic brand meets Davis's six-year-old threshold for "dog food."
To be clear, the Washington Post-ABC poll still shows a slight difference between the parties, with congressional Republicans viewed dimly by 72 percent of Americans, which is slightly worse than the record 67 percent who view Democrats dimly. And it is beyond question that the GOP's continually poor image is holding it back from making what could be even bigger gains than it's primed to make in the Nov. 4 elections.
But the gap between the two parties is shrinking, and there's plenty of reason to believe the GOP's image isn't hurting it much more than Democrats' is these days.
The latest piece of evidence is an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, also released Sunday. The NBC/WSJ poll showed likely voters, by a 52-41 margin, say they would prefer that Republicans control Congress come January. Among the larger universe of registered voters, the GOP's advantage is smaller, 46-42.
The poll also suggests views of the Democratic Party are indeed getting dimmer. It asked likely voters whether the election-related information they had consumed in recent weeks has them feeling more or less favorable toward each party.
For Democrats, 53 percent said they are feeling less favorable, while 25 percent said they are feeling better about the blue team.
Among Republicans, the split was more even: 40 percent less favorable and 35 percent more favorable.
When you look just at political independents, 46 percent say they're more negative about the Democratic Party, while 37 percent say the same of the GOP.
These aren't major differences, but they lend credence to the idea that the Democratic Party is losing its image edge on the GOP heading into the 2014 election.
And that matters for the following reasons: Democrats already had an unpopular president and a tough landscape, in which most battleground Senate races are in red territory.
A superior brand is one of the few things they have going for them, and they were practically giddy about contrasting their brand with the GOP's after the government shutdown last year and after comments like those made by Todd Akin in the 2012 campaign.
These days, that partisan contrast just isn't as convincing as Democrats would like it to be.