Chart of the Day: Republicans Losing Ground on Their Beloved Tax Jihad

The folks at Democracy Corps are practically giddy over the results of their latest polling:

The Republican brand is in a state of collapse — over 50 percent of voters give the Republican Party a cool, negative rating….Romney may be on the edge of political death….President Obama is now at the critical 50 percent mark on approval and is approaching 50 percent on the ballot….On the named Congressional ballot, Democrats continue to lead Republicans….Unmarried women, young voters, and minorities […] have returned in a big way for Democrats….A drop in negative feelings about the direction of the country and the economy are major and are shaping the mood going into 2012.

What’s more, as Lisa Mascaro writes in the LA Times this morning, as the fight over the payroll tax cut extension unfolded, “something damaging happened to the Republican Party’s once-dominant position on tax policy.” By opposing the payroll tax cut, they’ve allowed Obama to take the tax high ground:

The way the debate took shape has “certainly caused damage” to the GOP image, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday. “It muddled the differences” between the two parties, he said.

Very sad. The chart below shows the damage to the Republican Party brand.