Poll: Republicans in Congress at risk

Democrats have taken the lead in a generic congressional ballot for the first time since being washed out of office by Republicans in the 2010 election, according to a Democracy Corps survey released Friday.

Democrats now lead the congressional ballot 47 percent to 44 percent, thanks in large part to a 29 percent shift in Independents since the same survey in June of 2011.

And that’s not the only bad news for Republicans.

According to the poll, Republicans and Democrats are now tied for who would do a better job on the economy, which has been the primary source of attacks from congressional Republicans and the GOP presidential candidates against the Obama administration.

Fifty-three percent said they were increasingly displeased with Republicans in Congress, and the same amount said they were turned off by the increasingly contentious GOP presidential primary.

The intensity of support is also moving in opposite directions for the two parties.

While President Obama and Romney are tied for the amount of voters who say they strongly support each candidate, strong support for Obama is up 5 percent since October, while strong support for Romney has declined by six points in the same time frame.

The poll also confirmed what many have speculated — a third-party candidate would be devastating to Republicans in the 2012 general election for president. Ron Paul would take 18 percent in a three-way race with Obama and Mitt Romney, and those votes would come from Romney by a two-to-one margin.

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