Poll Shows Waning Support for Congressional Democrats, Obama, Health Care Law

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2010 -- Democratic congressional candidates face a political landscape even rockier than those in 1994 and 2006 that ended with election upheavals that changed control of Congress, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.

As the fall campaign begins in earnest over Labor Day weekend, dissatisfaction with the nation's direction is higher and support for the party in power lower than it was in those tumultuous midterms.

This time, however, voters are more likely to say their vote reflects opposition to the party in power rather than support for the other side. Republicans are held in the same low regard as when the GOP lost control of Congress four years ago.

That could create problems if they do score a net gain of 39 seats to control the House of Representatives or 10 seats to control the Senate.

"It's good news for Republicans winning elections in the fall, but it may sow divisions for governing in January," says Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at of the University of Minnesota. "It's a mandate for change from the Democrats but not a mandate for Tea Party policies" that may divide the GOP later.

Among voters supporting Republican candidates, nearly half say they're motivated by a desire to defeat the Democrat. By 2-1, they would rather vote for someone new than a current GOP member of Congress.

A third of those polled approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing, the same dismal rating congressional Democrats receive.

"I'm basically a conservative, but if we were on a 10-point scale I wouldn't give either group better than a 5," says James Deresinski, 65, of Sedalia, Mo., who was among those surveyed. Still, he expects to vote a straight Republican ticket this fall.

"The Democrats are spend-a-holics; it's just been a nightmare," says Glenn Dykstra, 38, of Havelock, N.C. He would like to vote for a Tea Party candidate, but if one isn't on the ballot, he is prepared to vote for the Republican instead.