The latest Gallup Poll shows a dead heat among likely voters for the first time this year, Donald Lambro of The Washington Times reports:

The Democrats' yearlong lead among likely voters has evaporated, strengthening Republican chances of holding majority control in the House, according to the Gallup Poll.

Gallup's latest survey of voters who say they will go to the polls Nov. 7 showed the contest is a "dead heat" between those who say they will vote Republican (48 percent) and those who say they intend to support Democrats (48 percent). The poll of 1,003 adults was conducted Sept. 15-17.

Democrats continue to maintain an advantage among registered voters; however, pollsters consider likely voters to be a more accurate measurement of the electorate's preferences. The neck-and-neck estimates suggest the Republicans have the potential to offset the Democrats' lead "with greater turnout," Gallup said last week in an analysis of its findings.

"Should that result persist until Election Day, it suggests Republicans would be able to maintain their majority-party status in the House," Gallup said.

The full article is at the link above.

The key here isn't the result. It is the trend. After leading steadily by significant margins all year long, Democrats now find themselves faced with a fast-closing Republican Party. This underlines the weakness of their "four-corners offense" this year: they have counted on public dissatisfaction with Bush, Iraq, and gas prices to carry them through, and have put forward no coherent platform or program to give voters some concrete reason to vote FOR them, as opposed to voting AGAINST Bush.

With Bush moving back into decent approval territory, and the Republicans drawing even in generic polls (which have typically overestimated actual Democratic results), they are exposed like the Emperor Who Had No Clothes.

The Republicans and the President may not have much public support, but it is hard to beat something with nothing. And nothing is precisely what Democrats are offering.