Democrats lead big in first generic ballot poll for 2008

[Verily]

http://pollingreport.com/cong2008.htm

Cook Political Report/RT Strategies Poll. Feb. 15-18, 2007. N=840 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.4 (for all registered voters).

"Regardless of how you might plan to vote in your own district, which party would you like to see in control of Congress after the congressional elections in 2008: the Democrats or the Republicans?"  If other/unsure: "Well, which way do you lean -- more toward the Democrats or the Republicans?" Options rotated

All:
Dem: 52%
GOP: 36%
Other (vol.): 4%
Unsure: 7%

GOP:
Dem: 7%
GOP: 89%
Other: 1%
Unsure: 3%

Ind:
Dem: 47%
GOP: 27%
Other: 12%
Unsure: 14%

Dem:
Dem: 96%
GOP: 2%
Other: -
Unsure: 3%



Now, obviously polls mean virtually nothing this far out, and generic ballot mean less. This poll also specifically asks the respondent to ignore local conditions such as popular incumbents. On the other hand, it does show that the people do like what they've seen with the Democrats so far and do not seem immediately willing to "return to the GOP fold", as some have suggested. That snapback may be long in coming.

[Verily]

Has there been any generic presidential poll?

There've been a few, usually with splits like 48-45 Dem-GOP.

[Verily]

"Like what they've seen with the Democrats..."

The democrats better hope they haven't peaked after only 2 months.

Who said that this was a peak? IIRC, it's better than the average generic ballot poll leading up to 2006, but only by two or three points.