What Do the Polls Mean?

Obama Approval:

Congressional Approval by Party:
(from Diageo polling)

TW: Obama's approval rating has suffered over the past month. He is trying to do some hard stuff so the decline is not surprising and in absolute terms remains high (remember media reports only if ratings are headed up or down rarely whether the absolute numbers are good or bad, hence high approvals inevitably lead to later stories about "weakening" poll numbers).

But the poll that tells the tale to me is the Congressional one whereby both the Dems and Republicans show significant decreases. We are in two wars, a Great Contraction and most importantly the Great Transition (whereby the East and parts of the South achieve parity with the West). Folks are grumpy. Incumbents will suffer which hurts the Dems more. But until and unless the Republican approvals start to go up in the face of Dem weakness, then I will assume folks are merely grumpy as opposed to enthralled by the vacuous rhetoric emanating from the Boehners, Inhofes, Coburns, Gingrichs of the world.