The latest Opinion Dynamics Poll is out at Fox News. It's mostly good news for the Republicans--other than the environment, health care, and social security, they have the confidence of the poll respondents. On military affairs it's overwhelming--only 16% would trust the Democrats more. So unless they can make those three issues the dominant ones this year, hopes for taking back the House (and maybe even retaining the Senate) look dim for them right now.

But the worst near-term news for the Dems is that it looks like a majority sees through the demagoguery.

35. Do you agree or disagree with those who say Democrats would rather use the economic downturn as an election issue than work to improve the economy?

Agree: 52%

Disagree: 30%

Not Sure: 18%

I think that Plurality Leader Daschle is playing a losing hand here...

The problem, of course, is that we don't necessarily know the methodology of selection of the respondees (although at least they took a bigger sample than that Pew Poll of "international leaders" a few months back!). If it was your typical FoxNews watcher, they're almost certainly more leery of the Democrats (since their viewership seems to be more heavily conservative).

Conversely, I would probably assume that a poll by the NYT would produce a slight majority believing that the Democrats would NOT use the recession for political gain, a conclusion I find equally specious.

No. Opinion Dynamics polling is not a poll of Fox News watchers. It is telephone polls of the general public, just like a Gallup or Roeper poll (or one commissioned by the NYT, which probably would get a similar result, assuming that they asked the question).

The difference between polls sponsored by different news organizations is not in methodology--it is in what questions are asked, and how they are asked.