For decades, the American people believed that the Republican Party, despite whatever else they may lack, was the go-to party on issues involving national security and terrorism.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll from 2002 said that 57% of Americans felt Republicans were better on handling terrorism (only 22% favored Democrats).

An NBC/WSJ poll from 2002 said that 49% of registered voters preferred Republicans to deal with terrorism (compared to 13% for Democrats).

A Fox poll from 2003 had similar results: 53% favored Republicans; 19%  favored Democrats.

In all cases the spread was 35-40 points, Republicans beating Democrats.

No more.  ABC/WaPo poll this week asked:

Who do you trust to do a better job handling the threat of terrorism — (Obama) or the (Republicans in Congress)?

   Obama: 55%

   Republicans in Congress: 34%

Looks like the GOP no longer has the edge on the subject of terrorism either.  It sum, this graph compiles the poll on the "trust" issue:

With that much approval on the issues, it is hard to understand why Obama is having such a hard time getting certain things like health care reform approved.  In fact, it's hard to tell why he's even bothering to be partisan.