Republicans are heading into the general election phase of the midterm campaign backed by two powerful currents: the highest proportion of voters in two decades say it is time for their own member of Congress to be replaced, and Americans are expressing widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama ’s leadership. 
 
 But the latest New York Times/CBS News poll also finds that while voters rate the performance of Democrats negatively, they view Republicans as even worse, providing a potential opening for Democrats to make a last-ditch case for keeping their hold on power. 
 
 The poll represents a snapshot of the country’s political mood as the campaign pivots from primary contests that have revealed deep divisions among Republicans into the general election, where the parties deliver their competing arguments to a wider audience. 
 
 The findings suggest that there are opportunities and vulnerabilities for both parties as they proceed into the final seven weeks of the campaign. 
 
 A case for Republicans: Voters are remarkably open to change, even if they are not sure where Republicans will lead them. Most Americans, including one-third of those in the coalition that elected Mr. Obama, now say he does not have a clear plan to solve the nation’s problems or create jobs. Democrats remain highly vulnerable on the economy. 
 
 A case for Democrats: They are seen as having better ideas for solving the country’s problems. The public steadfastly supports the president’s proposal to let tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans. And far more people still blame Wall Street and the Bush administration than blame Mr. Obama for the country’s economic problems. 
 
 Voters have a darker view of Congressional Republicans than of Democrats, with 63 percent disapproving of Democrats and 73 percent disapproving of Republicans. But with less than two months remaining until Election Day, there are few signs that Democrats have made gains persuading Americans that they should keep control of Congress. 
 
 “I really think we need to get some new blood in there,” said Kathy Beckman, 44, an optometrist from Lodi, Calif., who spoke in an interview after participating in the poll. “Get them all out.” 
 
 The mood of the country is similar in many respects to the fall of 1994, when Republicans swept control of Congress. There is an overall low Congressional approval, large numbers of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track and soaring discontent among voters with their own representative. 
 
 It is that particular finding in the poll that underscores the true depths of the disgruntlement among the public and is an ominous sign for Democrats, who have a 39-seat majority in the House and a 10-seat majority in the Senate. 
 
 In many election cycles, voters readily acknowledge that they are dissatisfied with government or Congress in general, but they tend to have a stronger connection toward their own representative. That is not the case this year, with 55 percent of voters saying it is time for new leadership and only 34 percent saying their lawmaker deserves re-election. It is a historic high for a question asked in each midterm election year since 1990. 
 
 The economic climate is also worse this year, with 8 in 10 Americans rating the economy negatively and 4 in 10 saying that their family’s financial situation is worse than it was two years ago. In September 1994, two months before Democrats lost their majorities in the House and Senate, more than half of people said the condition of the national economy was good. 
 
 The economy and jobs are increasingly and overwhelmingly cited by Americans as the most important problems facing the country, while the federal budget deficit barely registers as a topic of concern when survey respondents were asked to volunteer their worries. 
 
 The national telephone poll was conducted Friday through Tuesday, the day that primary contests unfolded in seven states. The survey included 990 adults, of whom 881 were registered voters. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. 
 
 Voters do not perceive Republicans as having better ideas and disagree with them on the biggest economic issue of the campaign — whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy — a sign the party has no real advantage on key pieces of their agenda, which makes it more necessary to run as a generic alternative to the party in power. 
 
 The Tea Party movement, which showed its strength in Republican primaries in Delaware and New York, has yet to be fully defined for many Americans. Nearly half of voters say they are undecided or have not heard enough about the Tea Party to form an opinion, a sign that offers an opportunity for the movement to define itself to many voters and help shape their views of it before Election Day. ||||| Voters, by a 9-point margin, believe Republicans will pick up both the House and the Senate, even though they are evenly divided over whom they intend to back in six weeks, according to a new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll. 
 
 In a generic matchup between the two parties, those surveyed were split 43-43 when asked if they would back a Republican or a Democrat on Election Day. This is good news for Democrats and at odds with many other public polls, which have shown Republicans holding a single-digit edge. 
 
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 Better yet for Democrats, in several key regions with numerous House and Senate seats in play — namely, the Midwest and Northeast — they hold a 5-point advantage, suggesting the party’s congressional fortunes aren’t nearly as grim as the media coverage might suggest. (See: Full poll results and analysis) 
 
 In the West — defined as Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — Democrats hold a blowout 51-31 generic advantage. Those numbers, however, are tempered by findings that should send shudders down the spines of Democrats in the Mountain West: In that eight-state region, where the party has made significant recent inroads, the GOP held a 24-point lead. 
 
 Overall, the likely voters polled said they anticipated Republicans will have a big night, picking up the 39 seats necessary to win the House (45-36, with 19 percent uncertain) and the 10 needed to recapture the Senate (46-37-17). 
 
 One reason may be the disparate levels of voter enthusiasm. Ninety-five percent of those surveyed who usually vote Republican said they were extremely or very likely to vote in November. For usual Democratic voters, 87 percent said the same. 
 
 The poll also showed wide enthusiasm gaps between the youngest and oldest voters. Seventy-nine percent of voters ages 18 to 34 said they were extremely or very likely to vote, compared with 96 percent of those age 65 or older. 
 
 When broken down by race, the gap is equally noticeable — and politically consequential for the Democratic Party. Just 76 percent of African-Americans said they were extremely or very likely to vote, compared with 92 percent of whites. 
 
 The rest of the poll similarly offers reasons for hope and hand-wringing for both parties, including signs that the Democrats’ blame-Bush-first campaign on the economy is resonating but that the blame-Boehner-next campaign for everything else has a long way to go. 
 
 This is the first in a series of six bipartisan polls that will be conducted for POLITICO and The George Washington University as part of the nearly 20-year-old Battleground survey. The poll, which surveyed 1,000 likely voters nationally between Sept. 7 and Sept. 9, was conducted and analyzed by two widely respected pollsters, Democrat Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners and Republican Ed Goeas of The Tarrance Group. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percent. (See: Analysis from Goeas, Lake)
– If Democrats are desperate for signs of hope heading into the midterms, two new polls may be about as good as they're going to get: A New York Times/CBS survey finds that while most people (63%) don't like them, even more (73%) don't like Republicans. The stat provides "a potential opening for Democrats to make a last-ditch case for keeping their hold on power," write Jeff Zeleny and Megan Thee-Brenan. Also good for Dems: Most people still blame George W. Bush and Wall Street for the economic mess, not President Obama. Still, voters are clearly angry—the highest percentage in 20 years say it's time for their own congressman to go—and most don't think Obama has the right answers. A Politico poll, meanwhile, says most voters think the GOP will take over both the House and Senate. But respondents were split at 43-43 when asked whether they would vote for a Democrat or Republican. "This is good news for Democrats and at odds with many other public polls, which have shown Republicans holding a single-digit edge," write Charles Mahtesian and Jim Vandehei. More significantly, Democrats actually hold an edge in key battleground regions of the Midwest and Northeast. For all (or at least more) things Election 2010, click here.