Voters dislike Republicans in 2006

I just got an email from the DCCC, not my favorite organization, but always good to know what they are up to. Their language is quite similar to what I have been saying here for a while;

So what would provoke Republicans to make such a show of pretending to be independent? Let's consult the polls -- here are some recent results on the "generic ballot" question, i.e. whether a voter would generally prefer a Democrat or a Republican for Congress:

Gallup (9/7-10/06): Democrat 53% Republican 41%
Pew (9/6-10/06): Democrat 50% Republican 39%
ABC (9/5-7/06): Democrat 50% Republican 42%
CNN (8/30 - 9/2/06): Democrat 53% Republican 43%

Non-partisan Congressional analyst Stu Rothenberg takes another stab at evaluating the state of play. The good news for Republicans is that, according to Rothenberg, it's not an "anti-incumbent" election as is often said. The bad news is that...

"Instead, what is developing is a classic political wave of voter dissatisfaction about the direction of the nation and the performance of the president... Republican incumbents are in trouble not because they are incumbents, but because they are Republicans."

Judging by how rarely Republicans mention their party affiliation in their ads, they may have already come to understand that.

Remember Rep. Vito Fossella thinks he is an independent. I wonder why?