Gallup: Battle for Congress Suddenly Looks Competitive

Momentum in the national campaign environment has clearly and dramatically shifted since the close of the national conventions. A surging McCain-Palin ticket is now having an impact on the battle for Congress, according to new information from Gallup.

While the "generic ballot" for Congress has favored the Democrats by 15% or more for much of the last year, that gap has suddenly closed to only 3% -- very important for our Congressional candidates, particularly in highly competitive districts.

Look at what Gallup had to say in this release:

The positive impact of the GOP convention on polling indicators of Republican strength is further seen in the operation of Gallup's "likely voter" model in this survey. Republicans, who are now much more enthused about the 2008 election than they were prior to the convention, show heightened interest in voting, and thus outscore Democrats in apparent likelihood to vote in November. As a result, Republican candidates now lead Democratic candidates among likely voters by 5 percentage points, 50% to 45%.