The GOP is still in trouble on the economy

EJ Dionne on the economy and the elections. Rising gas prices have given the Republicans a fillup, but as he points out, from a low base. But the other economic fundamentals - wages, incomes, price rises, slow job growth - haven't changed.

The GOP is still in trouble on the economy. The New York Times/CBS News poll published Thursday found that 36 percent of respondents thought the economy was getting worse, compared with 17 percent who saw it getting better.

But this is actually good news for Republicans, considering that in July the same poll found that only 12 percent saw the economy improving while 47 percent saw it declining. And in the Pew survey, the proportion of voters listing gas prices and the constellation of issues around energy as the country's most important problem fell from 14 percent in May to 7 percent this month.