BIASED POLL

Highlights of the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:

Bush's job approval rating is at 39 percent among registered voters, a drop of three points since September....

... 46 percent of registered voters believe the war in Iraq has hurt the United States in its ability to win the war on terrorism, compared with 32 percent who think it has helped. That's a significant change from September, when respondents were evenly split on whether Iraq is hurting or helping the war on terrorism.

Moreover, an eye-popping 41 percent say that the things they have seen and heard over the last few weeks have given them a less favorable impression of Republicans holding onto control of Congress. Just 18 percent say they have a more favorable impression.

Conversely, 34 percent believe the events over the past few weeks have given them a more favorable impression of Democrats becoming the majority party in Congress, while 23 percent say the events have given them a less favorable impression....

And here's what I love about this poll: According to the detailed breakdown (PDF), 48% of respondents say they voted for Bush in '04 and only 38% say they voted for Kerry.

How bad would things be looking for the GOP if the poll reflected the actual makeup of the '04 electorate (Bush 51%, Kerry 48%)?