Fareed Zakaria notes here that, in the latest Newsweek poll, the economy has replaced Iraq as voters' top priority. Soren Dayton has some interesting thoughts:
Now, it is not clear to me that this is a huge win for Republicans, given the housing problems. But Iraq is clearly coming out of the headlines. Which might mean that the Democrats have some space to make responsible decisions, if actually elected.
When you look at the poll, you see that the economy tops the list of priorities with 22 percent while Iraq is at 19 percent. That's within the margin of error, which suggests that the two topics have about an equal hold on the public imagination. Still, the Democrats have the advantage in explaining that they have policies to palliate voters' economic anxieties. But it's an advantage that the Republicans could neutralize, if they wanted to do so.