No Gender Gap This Election?

Today's ABC News/Washington Post poll brings more bad news for the party of liberalism. "Even with the [economic] recovery to date, 77% are worried about the economy's future, and 57% say the country has been experiencing a long-term decline in living standards ..."

Barack Obama and his political party are heading into the midterm elections in trouble. The president's 40 percent job approval rating in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll is the lowest of his career — and the Democratic Party's popularity is its weakest in polling back 30 years, with more than half of Americans seeing the party unfavorably for the first time.

The Republican Party is even more unpopular. But benefiting from their supporters' greater likelihood of voting, GOP candidates nonetheless hold a 50-43 percent lead among likely voters for U.S. House seats in the Nov. 4 election. 

Women, who have long been counted on to lift liberals' fortunes, have lost confidence as well.  Among likely voters, "women divide evenly between Democratic and Republican House candidates," reports the poll. The gender gap this cycle is all male: