Aug. 22, 2022: A shifting center of attention reshapes 2022
It\u2019s been a long time (months? years?) since we\u2019ve seen national Democrats in such a good mood about their electoral chances. Over the last few weeks \u2014 amid a spate of legislative movement, falling gas prices, stumbling Republican Senate candidates and the sense of a growing backlash to efforts to restrict abortion \u2014 the fight for control of Congress seems to have tightened. Gone are the days when pundits confidently predicted a red tsunami.\nThe latest NBC News poll \u2014 which still shows Republicans with a lead in the generic congressional ballot \u2014 had two data points that stuck out to us:\n1. Democrats have almost eliminated the enthusiasm gap with Republicans. \u201cAccording to the survey, 68% of Republicans express a high level of interest in the upcoming election \u2026 versus 66% for Democrats,\u201d notes Mark Murray. \u201cThat 2-point GOP advantage is down from 17 points in March and 8 points in May.\u201d\xa0\n2. Voters ranked \u201cthreats to democracy\u201d as a more important issue than cost of living.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.