State of the Nation Poll: More Dem voters say we're on 'wrong track'

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos (MoE: ±3.1, 2/17-20, registered voters, Obama trendlines 2/11-13, all others 2/3-6):

Most of the numbers here have held steady from previous weeks - you'll recall that we ask the Obama questions weekly, but all other questions get asked in alternating weeks. The most notable changes are the Dem drop in the generic ballot, along with a corresponding drop in Congressional Dem approval ratings. Independents gyrated the most on the generic ballot question, moving from +7 in favor of Dems to -10 against in just two weeks' time. There was also a pretty big fall in the right direction/wrong track question, but it was Democratic respondents, not independents, who showed the steepest drop.

Situations like this always make poll-watchers scratch their heads, but it seems like we just wound up with a particularly bearish group of Dems this week. On the RD/WT question, two weeks ago, Dems felt things were headed in the right direction by a 62-24 margin; this week, only 48% do, and 36% don't. That's a very steep decline in the absence of any obvious external factors, especially compared with much smaller drops among GOPers and indies.

Or it may just be that the Dems PPP talked to two weeks ago were feeling particularly cheerful - a month ago, they were 55-33 on this question, right in between the last two findings.
As for those indies? At the end of January, they were -15 against Dems on the generic ballot, so you could call this week's test something of an improvement, despite the more recent drop. With things bouncing around like this, it's hard to get a precise sense of what the mood of the Democratic and independent electorate is, but needless to say, we'll be watching it very carefully.