Poll: GOP Steamrolling Toward Midterm Vote

A new poll has old news for Democrats: The midterm elections are going to be ugly. The Wall Street Journal/NBC survey says Republicans have won back crucial blocs that strayed in recent elections, including independents, seniors, suburban women, and rural voters. Also, about a third of respondents say they don't trust the government, triple the number from October and a sign of the anti-incumbent sentiment already evident in early races.

"This data is what it looks like when Republicans assemble what for them is a winning coalition," the GOP pollster who co-conducted the survey tells the Journal. His Democratic counterpart agrees, despite accomplishments for President Obama and Democrats such as the health care bill, the nuclear pact with Russia, and a quick arrest in the Times Square case. "A lot has happened," he said, "but the basic dynamic of the 2010 elections seems almost set in concrete." (More Republicans stories.)