This news as huge ramifications for the upcoming elections.  From Political Wire:

As the 2006 midterm election season approaches, Political Wire has seen a copy of a new Winston Group (R) poll that shows Americans turning away from the Republican party. (There’s no link yet on the firm’s website.)

Those surveyed had less confidence in Republicans to handle a wide range of issues, including education, Social Security, health care, jobs and energy prices. Democrats beat Republicans by at least 9 percentage points in each category. In addition, Democrats were also viewed as better able to handle war in Iraq and the economy.

In fact, the only bad news for Democrats is that they are viewed as overly partisan. In particular, Democrats were seen as more likely to instigate partisan attacks over two recent issues in the news — the federal government’s hurricane response and the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court.