Well, that didn’t take long. Those of us who expected the Democrats, with control over three DC houses — House,  Senate and White House — to blow it didn’t expect it happen so quickly. But it seems that the donkey party, by misinterpreting their 2008 election victory as a mandate (it wasn’t) and by overreaching on the stimulus, abortion, cap and trade, health care reform and other major issues, has managed to destroy what good will they have won for themselves with the electorate.

Pubic polling Top Gun Scott Rasmussen reports his latest findings:

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on eight out of 10 key electoral issues, including, for the second straight month, the top issue of the economy. They’ve also narrowed the gap on the remaining two issues, the traditionally Democratic strong suits of health care and education.

Rasmussen’s survey found that for the second straight month, Republicans held their six-point lead over the Democrats on economic issues among all voters, only the second time in over two years of his polling that the GOP has had the advantage on economic matters. Especially worrisome for the Democrats has to be the metric that independents now trust Republicans more to handle the economy by a 46% to 32% margin. What’s behind the shift in trust from the ruling party to the opposition?

Last week’s report of 9.5 percent unemployment, the highest since 1983, raised doubts about the economy and the president’s handling of it. Consumer and investor confidence is now down to the lowest levels in three months. Just 39% now say President Obama is doing a good or an excellent job on the economy while 43% rate his performance as poor. Those are by far the weakest numbers yet for the president…

Most voters (52%) now trust Republicans more on the issue of taxes, also the highest level found in over two years. Only 36% trust Democrats more on taxes. A survey conducted at the end of June found that 39% of voters now expect their taxes to go up under Obama, the highest level of concern measured to date.

Republicans also continue to hold sway with voters on national security, a traditional GOP area of strength in public perception:

For the second straight month, voters put North Korea at the top of the list of biggest threats to U.S. national security.

It cannot have helped the Democrats that the Obama Administraton cut the defense budget for missile defense at a time when the North Koreans are developing both nuclear warheads and the delivery vehicles to carry them. All the while, they are improving the accuracy of their missiles.

The GOP holds a four-point lead on the issue of the War in Iraq, one where they were being clobbered by the Democrats prior to the November elections. Now it seems that shoe is on the other foot. Republicans also have a six-point advantage on the issue of immigration, are ahead by seven points on abortion, and has a one-point edge on government ethics and corruption.

Here are some other things which should cause the Democrats to lose sleep:

Also for the first time in over two years, Republicans lead Democrats on the issue of Social Security 42% to 37%. Democrats held a six-point lead on the issue last month, and the parties were tied in April.

Democrats have also seen their leads shrink on two of the party’s strong points, health care and education. The party holds a four-point lead on health care, down from 18 points in May. The Democrats’ advantage on the issue is the smallest found in over two years.

Voters are evenly divided when it comes to the health care reform plans being promoted by the president and Democrats in Congress.

On education, Democrats lead Republicans 41% to 38%, also the smallest margin in over two years. Democrats held a 15-point lead in May on the issue.

Rasmussen says fifty-four percent of all voters believe that Democrat in Congress holds more liberal views than they do, while only 36% believe the average Republican on the Hill is more conservative than they are. This does not bode well for the Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections. Indeed, GOP candidates lead Democrats for the second week in a row on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Even Stevie Wonder can see the warning signs here, but don’t expect the Democrats to alter their suicidal course. Even putting the brakes on cannot prevent the inevitable train wreck, and the Dems have no intention of pulling that lever. The years they were out of power inside the Beltway only made them covet it more, and they just can’t help themselves from trying to implement the full liberal Monty Python. Even if they could, their radical leftist special interest groups would not let them.

What Republicans should take away from the trend shown by the Rasmussen polls in the six months since the Democrats took power is that they should hold a conservative line. The American people are increasingly becoming fed up with the Democrats’ abuse of power, and now is not the time to get week in the knees or the spine. The voters will give them another chance, but they still have to show Americans that the GOP has real solutions to offer and will not betray the principles that brought them into power when they themselves held the three most important houses in the nation’s capitol. Republicans must reassure voters that they have read Santayana‘s famous warning and they will never again forget.

- JP