There are worrying signs about the Republican brand nationally, just five days before the party gathers for its convention and 76 days before Election Day.

A majority of voters in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll called presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and GOP candidates for Congress "out of step" with most Americans' thinking compared to President Barack Obama and Democratic candidates.

And 29 percent of registered voters said they had "very negative" impressions of the Republican Party – the second-highest number of voters to give the most intensely negative assessment of the GOP in the history of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, dating back to 1990.

The only other instance in which the “very negative” rating for the GOP surpassed that was in 2006, before Republicans received a drubbing at the polls.

The numbers underscore the headwinds facing Republicans heading into an election they're eager to win, and illustrate the stakes for the GOP next week in Tampa, where they'll have an opportunity to soften impressions of the party.

"It’s frustrating. This president has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to tag Republicans as the party of the rich and the 1 percent," said Frank Donatelli, the chairman of GOPAC, a group dedicated to training Republican candidates.

"Republicans need to push back even harder talking about growth and jobs," he said. "That is the issue of the election; we’ve gotten a little bit away from that."

Indeed, the campaign has been focused mostly on Medicare in the week and a half since Romney added Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan -- the author of a plan including controversial reforms to the entitlement program -- to the Republican ticket.

That focus was only eclipsed by the controversy this week involving Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, whose impolitic comments about abortion rights in the instance of rape threatened to raise a messy debate that could cost GOP candidates among women voters, with whom they already generally lag.

"Republicans have really gotten off-message in the last week and a half," said a veteran GOP operative well-versed in the party's campaign efforts. "If you’re Mitt Romney or a Republican candidate, you need to be operating within a message framework centered on economic issues, not on issues that are historically unfriendly to Republicans."

But the souring GOP brand likely has a longer tail than the last few weeks. A bloody presidential primary and congressional gridlock have contributed to a sense that Republicans don’t represent the mainstream.

Fifty-four percent of voters said that Republican candidates for Congress were out of step with the public, versus 38 percent who called them mainstream. By contrast, voters view Democratic candidates more evenly: 45 percent said Democratic congressional candidates were mainstream, and 48 percent called them out of step.

"The Republican brand has become the opposite of what the middle class is looking for," said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

He pointed to House Republicans' votes to approve Ryan’s controversial budgets, and repeated votes to repeal health care reform -- among other instances of legislative gridlock -- as contributing to a decline in the GOP's image.

To that end, Democrats opened up an advantage over Republicans on the question of the generic ballot -- which party voters generally prefer to control Congress -- in the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Forty-seven percent of voters said they prefer Democratic control of Congress, and 42 percent support GOP control; a one or two-point margin had separated the parties on that question since April.

Several Republicans who spoke for this story expressed concern that Romney's selecting Ryan as a running mate had needlessly made Medicare a central issue in the campaign. While Republicans had expected to fight on that issue, and had sought to inoculate themselves from having voted for Ryan's controversial budgets, some questioned the wisdom of having spent much of the last week and a half fighting on that issue -- one usually favorable to Democrats -- rather than the economy.

But voters’ adverse impression of Republicans might not translate to losses in Congress, at least in the House. Most election prognosticators have said their models don’t predict the kind of Democratic wave in the House that would deliver the net gain of 25 seats they need to retake control.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

Several Republicans expressed concern that Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as a running mate had needlessly made Medicare a central issue in the campaign.

“The popularity of Congress, top to bottom, is not extremely high,” said Brad Dayspring, a senior adviser to the Young Guns Action Fund, a super PAC founded by former aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. “That being said, a lot depends on what happens in the individual races. Individual members of Congress, especially a lot of our freshmen, remain popular at home. Additionally, the Republican majority becomes a lot more important to people when it serves as a check and a balance.”

The brand problem could be more serious in statewide races for Senate or governorships – or on the national, presidential level. But some conservatives are betting their enthusiasm and general disappointment in Obama’s performance after four years might be enough to deliver the election.

“The Republican brand is not fully restored to its pre-2000 level. But this election isn’t going to be won by the Republican brand, it’s going to be won by what I call the ‘Allied Forces’ – the Tea Partiers, the establishment and everybody working toward a common goal,” said Al Cardenas, the chairman of the American Conservative Union.

“You don’t need the Republican Party to be at full strength, but what you need is all of those forces to be working together,” Cardenas added.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan admitted Wednesday that he told Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) to end his bid for the U.S. Senate, and noted he is “comfortable” with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s stance on abortion.

Akin “should have dropped out of the race,” Ryan told reporters on his campaign plane while flying from Virginia to North Carolina. “But he is not, he is going to run his campaign and we are going to run ours.”

The single phone call between Ryan and Akin, according to the Wisconsin congressman, went how “you would imagine.” There are no additional plans to speak with Akin going forward in order to convince the Missouri congressman to reconsider continuing his bid to replace current Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

Ryan, who co-sponsored anti-abortion legislation with Akin, said he is proud of his opposition to abortion rights, and brushed off the vote as a bi-partisan measure. The House Budget Chairman is on board with Romney's position on abortion rights moving forward.

Related: Ryan on Akin: 'Rape is rape'

"Look I'm proud of my record," Ryan said. “Mitt Romney is going to be president and the president sets policy. His policy is exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. I'm comfortable with it because it's a good step in the right direction."

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign criticized this switch on Ryan’s beliefs.

“As a Republican leader in the House, Paul Ryan worked with Todd Akin to try to narrow the definition of rape and outlaw abortion even for rape victims. He may hope that American women never learn about this record, but they deserve an answer to why he wanted to redefine rape and remove protections for rape victims,” campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith wrote in a statement.

President Barack Obama continues to lead presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney by wide margins with Latinos, according to the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Telemundo poll.

Hispanics, the largest-growing segment of the U.S. population over the past decade, said they preferred Obama over Romney in the presidential race, 63 to 28 percent.

That margin has been relatively consistent since May when the poll started sampling additional Latino interviews. It’s also, though, far below the stated Romney campaign goal of winning 38 percent of the Hispanic vote.

"Our goal is to do better than four years ago and the McCain campaign did — our goal is to hit 38 percent with the Hispanic vote," Jose Fuentes, a national co-chairman of Romney's Hispanic leadership team, told The Hill newspaper. "That's our goal. That's our national average."

Full NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Telemundo Hispanic oversample poll here.

By every measure and every issue – from foreign policy to immigration, the economy to taxes – Hispanic registered voters said they overwhelmingly preferred Obama over his Republican opponent. But there continues to be a warning sign for the president’s reelection campaign: Latinos are among the least enthusiastic voting groups in the country this cycle.

“The president continues to perform strongly among Latinos, but his campaign continues to face the challenge of engaging interest and turn-out,” said Bill McInturff, the Republican pollster who conducted the poll with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart. “As we head into the conventions, the evidence suggests Latino voters continue to lag behind in terms of their self-described interest in this election.”

Despite President Obama’s June immigration announcement – which halted the deportation of illegal immigrants younger than 30 and who were brought to the United States as children – there has not been an uptick in Latino enthusiasm. That policy took effect Aug. 15, but Latino interest in this election is at its lowest point in the NBC-WSJ-Telemundo poll.

Just 61 percent of Latinos indicated a high level of enthusiasm in the upcoming election (registering an “8,” “9” or “10” on a 10-point scale). That’s 20 points below the average of 81 percent of all voters. And almost 20 points below 2008 levels for Latinos at about the same time before the election.

In this poll, in fact, one in 10 Latinos declared themselves a “1” – the highest level recorded this cycle.

And less than half (49%) count themselves as the highest-interest voters (9s and 10s). That’s the lowest among all voting groups in the NBC/WSJ poll.

They are similar, but below even the interest level of young voters, age 18-34. Fifty-two percent of young voters say they are 9s or 10s. Both should be red flags for the Obama campaign, as both young voters and Latinos are pillars of the president’s reelection hopes.

Still, Romney is seeing his worst likeability scores with Latinos. His negative rating is at an all-time high with the group – 48 percent (with 31 percent viewing him very negatively). Just 31 percent viewed him positively.

Obama, on the other hand, is viewed positively by more than two-thirds of Hispanics (67 percent).

Also, the U.S. Census found that Latinos now make up almost 17 percent of all Americans, and, since 2000, they have grown four times faster than the rest of the country.

They voted well below those population figures in 2008, however, making up just 9 percent of all voters.

But because of those demographics, even if intensity is down, they will still make up a significant chunk of the electorate that cannot be ignored, McInturff said.

“We don't know the percentage of the electorate that is going to be Latino -- one could argue it might be as low as 7 percent or as high as 10 percent,” McInturff said, “but, even if it drops from 2008 levels down to 8 percent, among likely Latino voters, the president is up by 40 points. That's a margin Gov. Romney has to narrow or he is placing a lot of pressure to perform exceptionally well among white voters to win the campaign.”

Romney VP pick doesn’t move Latinos

If Romney was hoping to move Hispanic voters with his vice-presidential pick, he didn’t do it with Paul Ryan.

A majority (54 percent) said the pick of the Wisconsin congressman will not affect their vote; 28 percent said it makes them less likely to vote for Romney; just 15 percent said it makes them more likely to do so.

Further, almost half (44 percent) say Ryan is “out of step,” as compared to just a third who say he’s “in the mainstream.”

On Medicare, a key issue involving Ryan’s controversial budget plan, a majority of Hispanics believe the program needs to be reformed, but almost six-in-10 Hispanic side with President Obama over the alternative posed by Romney-Ryan.

Fifty-seven percent said they agreed more with the president’s argument that Medicare “is a bad idea because it would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system giving seniors a set amount of money to pay for their health care costs and leaving them to personally cover costs above this amount.”

There were Latino Republicans in consideration for Romney’s vice-presidential slot, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez. Both will speak at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

The live-caller telephone survey of 300 Hispanic registered voters was conducted from Aug. 16 to 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.7 percent.

ROANOKE, VA -- Presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan became the latest politician to weigh in on the ongoing controversy surrounding Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) comments about "legitimate rape.”
 
In an interview with the CBS Pittsburgh affiliate KDKA, Ryan tried to distance himself from Akin, with whom he once co-sponsored a bill to re-define "forcible rape," asserting on Tuesday night that “rape is rape.”

“His statements were outrageous, over the pail. I don’t know anybody who would agree with that. Rape is rape period, end of story,” Ryan told KDKA

And asked if abortions should be available to women who are raped, the seven-term Wisconsin congressman said he stands by his record.

“Look, I’m proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It’s something I’m proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration,” Ryan said.

Akin, the Missouri congressman who is currently running for Senate, sparked a firestorm this week when he said if a woman is a victim of "legitimate rape," her body can shut itself down in order to prevent pregnancy.

Many top Republicans called for Akin to exit the race for so that the GOP would have a better chance of winning this key Senate race. Akin confirmed on the TODAY Show Wednesday morning that Ryan himself called Akin and personally asked him to withdraw from the race.

“Paul Ryan did give me a call and he felt that I had to make a decision. He advised me that it would be good for me to step down,” Akin said in the interview with NBC’s Matt Laur. “I told him that I was going to be looking at this very seriously, trying to weigh all the different points on this—and that I would make the decision. Because it’s not about me. It’s about trying to do the right thing and standing on principle. “

Neither Romney nor Ryan have addressed the Akin comments on the stump this week. Ryan spent Wednesday morning in Virginia – his fourth day in the state in the 12 days he has been running as Romney’s VP – highlighting just how important the commonwealth is in winning the election this November for Republicans.

“I’ve been coming to Virginia a lot these days, if you haven’t noticed that,” Ryan said, adding later that Virginia has a key role in saving “the American idea.”

“It is not too late to ignite the American dream. We can do this. We need the leadership now. We need to win this election. And Virginians of all people have a unique responsibility and an opportunity to deliver Virginia and save the American idea," he said.

And Ryan was quick to play the part of the attack dog for the GOP ticket accusing President Obama of touting an “imaginary recovery.”

“We've got 23 million people out of work, struggling to find work today, unemployment has been above 8 percent for 42 months, and the real unemployment rate is more like 15 percent,” Ryan said about the Obama-Biden administration while speaking outside Northwest Hardware. “He said that the private sector is doing just fine, we need more government. This is President Obama's imaginary recovery. It's not here.”

Ryan now heads to North Carolina where he will hold two public campaign events there over the next two days.

This isn’t your ordinary August poll; it looks more like October… The poll’s three macro-conclusions: 1) Obama has the advantage heading into the conventions, 2) he’s still below 50%, 3) Romney has work to do repairing his image… How our poll explains Romney’s welfare attack: He’s underperforming among white voters… NBC/WSJ/Telemundo oversample of Latino voters comes out at noon ET… The Akin story has become a mess for Republicans… And it also complicates their map to take control of the Senate… NYT says current Medicare patients would pay more if Romney restores those $716 billion in cuts… And Obama is in Las Vegas, while Romney stumps in Iowa.

*** Not your ordinary August poll: Our latest NBC/WSJ poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by four points among registered voters, 48%-44%; it suggests that Romney didn't get much of a bounce after his VP pick; it finds that attitudes about the economy are still dogging the president; and it points to Romney maybe having steeper challenges when it comes to his likeability, perceptions about his compassion, and his plans for Medicare. But NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) makes this larger point about the numbers: This isn't your ordinary August poll -- it's more something you'd see in mid-October. That's because 1) the numbers have barely moved in the poll since the general election began in earnest in April, and 2) more than $500 million in TV ads have been dropped on these two candidates. After all, if you live in a battleground state, you've seen almost every negative ad that the campaigns and outside groups can produce. So when you look at the numbers, think of this as being October, but with the conventions and debates still to come.

*** Three macro-conclusions about the race: If you assume that this isn't your ordinary August poll -- where many opinions might already be locked in -- the survey offers three macro-conclusions. One, Obama holds the advantage heading into the conventions. “The election has moved from a referendum to a choice,” co-pollster Peter Hart (D) said. “Mitt Romney is starting to accumulate a number of negatives on the personal front and issues front.” Two, the president is still below that all-important 50% threshold for an incumbent. “When a guy gets stuck at 48%, it doesn’t mean they are out of the clear,” McInturff says. “It means they are in an incredibly competitive campaign.” And three, Romney has some work to do in selling himself at next week’s GOP convention. Per the poll, Obama has a 22-point lead (52%-30%) on caring about average people, as well as a 28-point advantage (52%-24%) on issues concerning women. These are what we call our “gut check” questions, and Romney is trailing here -- and trailing badly.

*** How our poll explains Romney’s welfare attack: Our new poll also might explain why the Romney campaign has been airing all of those TV ads on welfare (which the AP today says are “distorting the facts”) or why Paul Ryan was invoking “clinging to my guns and my religion” yesterday while campaigning in Pennsylvania. The reason: Romney is underperforming with white voters. According to the survey, Romney leads Obama among this demographic group by 13 points (53%-40%), but that isn’t much different than McCain’s 12-point edge in 2008 per the exit polls (55%-43%) -- and McCain decisively lost the election. Also in the poll, Romney leads Obama among white men by 19 points (not much different than McCain’s 16 points) and among white women by eight points (McCain’s advantage was seven). If Romney is going to win in November, he needs to EXPAND those margins. And here’s why: If you assume that whites make up 74% of the electorate like they did in ’08 (and there’s a good argument to make that, because of the Latino growth, it will be less than that), then Obama winning 90%-plus of the black vote, 67% of the Latino vote, and 40% of the white vote gets him past 50%.

*** Injecting race into the campaign: So today, the Romney campaign is commemorating the 16th anniversary of welfare reform being signed into law. “[D]on’t expect President Obama to mark the occasion after just last month gutting the historic work requirements,” the campaign said in a statement. But that AP piece mentioned above notes how the welfare attack injects the issue of race in the presidential campaign. “It could open Romney up to criticism that he is injecting race into the campaign and seeking to boost support among white, working-class voters by charging that the nation’s first black president is offering a free pass to recipients of a program stereotypically associated with poor African-Americans. And Romney runs the risk of denting his credibility with voters by peddling an argument that has been widely debunked.” Steve Lombardo, a GOP pollster who worked on Romney’s 2008 campaign said this to AP: “It’s a tacit acknowledgement that it’s not enough to just hammer the economy. That will get you to 46, 47 percent, but it won’t get you to 51 percent.”

*** Here are some more numbers from our NBC/WSJ poll: Obama’s approval rating stands at 48% (which matches his ballot number); just 32% think the country is headed in the right direction; 36% say the info they’ve heard about Mitt Romney’s taxes has given them a more negative impression of the candidate (versus 6% who say more positive); Romney has an six-point edge (44%-38%) on which candidate has better ideas for improving the economy; and Democrats lead by five points on the generic congressional ballot, 47%-42%, which is something to watch. And a quick note: At noon ET, we will debut our monthly NBC/WSJ/Telemundo oversample of Latino voters.

Evan Vucci / AP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands as he arrives for a campaign rally, Monday, Aug. 20, 2012, in Manchester N.H.

*** The Akin story has become a mess for the GOP: There is really no other way to put it: The entire Todd Akin story has become an unequivocal mess for the Republican Party. Consider: This is THE STORY just days before the GOP convention, drawing attention to the GOP’s platform on abortion; Akin -- so far -- is remaining in the race, despite pleas from party leaders like Mitt Romney; and he even went on “TODAY” this morning, saying, per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod: "I think that anybody who's doing a lot of public speaking can make a mistake. The people of my state … knew I wasn't perfect." Indeed, Akin may be doing as much damage to the GOP brand right now BEFORE the convention as Pat Buchanan’s famous 1992 speech did AT the convention. But writing in National Journal, Matthew Dowd makes a very good point about the entire Akin affair. “Make no mistake, the calls for Akin’s resignation likely had nothing to do with the substance of his remarks -- keep in mind, the Republican platform has a call for a ban on abortion even in cases of rape. They had nothing to do with the fact that Akin has long held out-of-the-mainstream positions on many issues and made numerous extremely conservative statements. Akin’s mistake was that by opening his mouth with crazy talk … made it much harder for Republicans to win a sure Senate seat pickup with him on the ballot.”

*** It also complicates their map to win back the Senate: And if Republicans don’t win Missouri’s Senate contest, it essentially means they have to run the table on the remaining toss-up Senate races to win back the majority (if Obama wins re-election and if Angus King wins in Maine and caucuses with the Dems). The GOP would have to sweep Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, and one of Florida or Virginia. And if Elizabeth Warren wins in Massachusetts -- which is a 50%-50% prospect -- then the GOP would have to win BOTH of Florida and Virginia.

*** On those $716 billion in Medicare cuts: Turning to the fight over Medicare, this is a rough New York Times headline for the Romney campaign: “Patients Would Pay More if Romney Restores Medicare Savings, Analysts Say.” From the story: “While Republicans have raised legitimate questions about the long-term feasibility of the reimbursement cuts, analysts say, to restore them in the short term would immediately add hundreds of dollars a year to out-of-pocket Medicare expenses for beneficiaries. That would violate Mr. Romney’s vow that neither current beneficiaries nor Americans within 10 years of eligibility would be affected by his proposal to shift Medicare to a voucherlike system in which recipients are given a lump sum to buy coverage from competing insurers. For those reasons, Henry J. Aaron, an economist and a longtime health policy analyst at the Brookings Institution and the Institute of Medicine, called Mr. Romney’s vow to repeal the savings ‘both puzzling and bogus at the same time.’”

*** On the trail: Obama holds a campaign event in Las Vegas at 12:40 pm ET, and his campaign releases a TV ad (which will air tomorrow in Ohio and Virginia) hitting Romney and Ryan on education… Romney holds a rally in Bettendorf, IA at 1:35 pm ET, and his campaign has a new TV ad once again invoking those $716 billion in Medicare cuts… Joe Biden stumps in Michigan… And Paul Ryan holds a rally in Raleigh, NC.

Countdown to GOP convention: 5 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 12 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 42 days
Countdown to VP debate: 50 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 55 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 61 days
Countdown to Election Day: 76 days

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*** Wednesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: More on the NBC/WSJ numbers with pollsters Fred Yang and Bill McInturff… NBC’s Pete Williams’ interview with Justice Scalia and what he had to say about the court’s collegiality in the wake of the health-care ruling and other big decisions… More 2012 news with The New York Times’ Nick Confessore, TIME’s Nancy Gibbs and NY1’s Errol Louis.

*** Wednesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews former Hillary Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva (D), Washington Post columnist Matt Miller, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry; thegrio.com’s Perry Bacon, and USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich.

*** Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts talks with NOW President Terry O’Neill on Akin... Power panelists include GOP strategist Hogan Gidley, MSNBC Contributor Karen Hunter, and “Face to Face” Host Jon Ralston… Dana Milbank joins from the Washington Post, and Moira Forbes joins on Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in the World.

*** Wednesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include Politico’s Maggie Haberman, Rolling Stone Executive Editor Eric Bates, The Nation’s Ari Melber, New York Times Magazine Editor Hugo Lindgren, BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins, and Bill Nye.

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews DNC Executive Director Patrick Gaspard, Daily Beast Contributor and No Labels co-founder Mark McKinnon, the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, and NBC’s Ron Mott and Pete Williams.

*** Wednesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson, American Crossroads’ Jonathan Collegio, MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish, and Marc Morial from the National Urban League.

Obama and Romney are tied in the latest AP-GFK poll, with Obama slightly ahead at 47-46%. The AP’s take: “For all the attention it got, Republican Mitt Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate has not altered the race against President Barack Obama. The campaign remains neck and neck with less than three months to go, a new AP-GfK poll shows.” And: “At the same time, there's a far wider gap when people were asked who they thought would win. Some 58 percent of adults said they expected Obama to be re-elected, while just 32 percent said they thought he'd be voted out of office.”

“Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is out-fundraising President Barack Obama by impressive margins, is attracting thousands of donors this summer from traditionally Democratic areas of the United States, collecting millions of dollars in even progressive communities from New York to Los Angeles, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of new campaign data. Donors from tony neighborhoods of Manhattan to even the famously liberal Castro neighborhood in San Francisco helped Romney and the GOP outraise Obama by more than $25 million in July, beating him and the Democratic Party in contributions for a third consecutive month, the AP analysis showed.”

Obama may get NBA players, but Romney’s got the owners.

The AP: “Romney pushes on with discredited welfare attacks.” “Romney’s welfare push comes with risk for the presumptive GOP nominee. Focusing too heavily on welfare, which had barely registered as a campaign issue before Romney began pushing it, could turn off voters who want to hear the candidates offer specific prescriptions for job growth,” AP writes. “It could open Romney up to criticism that he is injecting race into the campaign and seeking to boost support among white, working-class voters by charging that the nation’s first black president is offering a free pass to recipients of a program stereotypically associated with poor African-Americans. And Romney runs the risk of denting his credibility with voters by peddling an argument that has been widely debunked.”

Steve Lombardo, a GOP pollster who worked on Romney’s 2008 campaign said this: “It’s a tacit acknowledgement that it’s not enough to just hammer the economy. That will get you to 46, 47 percent, but it won’t get you to 51 percent.”

The Romney campaign is even out with a press release marking the anniversary of the passage of welfare reform.

Romney’s criticizing Obama over his health-care law in an ad called, “Nothing’s Free.” It again notes the $716 billion in Medicare cuts.

The New York Times: “Patients Would Pay More if Romney Restores Medicare Savings, Analysts Say.”

Rep. Todd Akin confirmed on TODAY that Paul Ryan told him he should step aside. "He advised me that it would be good for me to step down. I told him that I was going to be looking at this very seriously, trying to weigh all the different points on this."

The Boston Globe: “Republican Party approves strict anti-abortion platform.” It’s one Mitt Romney isn’t in lockstep with. “The platform will come up for a vote of the convention delegates on Monday.”

“For weeks, Mitt Romney and the GOP have hammered President Obama for his ‘you didn't build that line’ about job creation in America,” USA Today writes. “Now, a variation of that Obama line and Romney's message about the work of individuals vs. the work of government will be taking center stage at the Republican National Convention next week.”

Rick Santorum (via Political Wire): "If the campaign is about issues, we win. If it's about Mitt Romney's record as a businessman, then we don't win. If it's about Mitt Romney's tax returns, then we don't win. If it's about whether people like Mitt Romney more than Barack Obama, then we don't win."

Obama’s campaign is out with a new ad hitting Romney on education, in particular class sizes.

Here’s the script: Kevin, father: "Some of our children's greatest experiences have been in the smaller classrooms." Voiceover: "But Mitt Romney says class sizes don't matter and he supports Paul Ryan's budget which could cut education by 20%." Kevin: "You can't do this by shoving 30, 35 people in a class and just teaching to some test." Caroline, mother: "These are all issues that really he personally cannot relate to. To be able to afford an education to want the very best public education system for your children."

But let’s look at the facts. Did Romney say “class sizes don’t matter,” as the ad alleges? First Read fact-checked this back in May when, in a campaign event in Philadelphia back in May, Romney seemed to downplay or dismiss the impact of class sizes. He said classroom sizes were not “driving the success” of school systems around the world that have similar class sizes to the United States. He cited a private management company’s study, not academic research.

But he also acknowledged -- in a limited way -- that smaller class sizes can have a positive impact. “If you had a class of five that would be terrific,” he said in May. “If you had a class of 50 that’s impossible.”

Romney, however, has a history of being critical of the idea of class sizes. At a Fox/Google debate in Florida in September 2011, he said, “All the talk about we need smaller classroom size, look that's promoted by the teachers’ unions to hire more teachers.”

Really… Hank Williams Jr. said this about the president of the United States yesterday: “We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S. and we hate him.”

Matt Sullivan / Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks at Capital University on August 21, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio.

After Mitt Romney selected his vice presidential running mate, and just days before the political conventions kick off next week, President Barack Obama maintains his advantage in the race for the White House, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

A Democratic ticket featuring Obama and Vice President Joe Biden gets support from 48 percent of registered voters, and a Republican ticket of Romney and new running mate Paul Ryan gets 44 percent.

These numbers are only slightly changed from July, when Obama led Romney by six points in the survey, 49 percent to 43 percent, suggesting a minimal bounce for Romney (if at all) after this month’s Ryan pick.

Read full poll here (.pdf)

While the state of the U.S. economy and the nation’s direction continue to pose significant obstacles for the president, the poll points to even steeper challenges for Romney, including concerns about his tax returns and a lack of support for his plans to overhaul Medicare.

“The election has moved from a referendum to a choice,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “Mitt Romney is starting to accumulate a number of negatives on the personal front and issues front.”

Looking ahead to next week’s Republican convention, which begins on Monday in Tampa, Fla., Hart adds: “Mitt Romney has a lot of repair work to do with his image.”

But McInturff argues that there’s still a path to victory for Romney, especially with Obama’s numbers below that all-important 50 percent threshold for an incumbent.

“When a guy gets stuck at 48 percent, it doesn’t mean they are out of the clear,” he says. “It means they are in an incredibly competitive campaign.”

The swing states, the demographics and the Ryan pick
In a smaller sample of voters living in 12 key battleground states – Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin –  Obama leads Romney by three points, 49 percent to 46 percent. 

That’s a narrower edge in these battlegrounds than the eight-point lead the president enjoyed in the June and July NBC/WSJ polls.

Looking inside the numbers, Obama continues to lead Romney among key parts of his political base, including African Americans (94 percent to 0 percent), Latinos (by a 2-to-1 margin), voters under 35-years-old (52 percent to 41 percent) and women (51 percent to 41 percent).

Romney is ahead with whites (53 percent to 40 percent), rural voters (47 percent to 38 percent) and seniors (49 percent to 41 percent).

And the two presidential candidates are essentially even when it comes to the swing groups of suburban voters, Midwest residents and political independents.

As for Romney’s selection of Ryan as his running mate, which was made on Aug. 11, the poll suggests that – so far – the pick has had less of an impact on voters than previous running mates have had.

Twenty-two percent say Ryan makes them more likely to vote for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, while 23 percent say he makes them less likely to vote for Romney; 54 percent say the pick doesn’t affect their vote either way.

That margin (-1) is compared with Joe Biden’s in 2008 (+8), Sarah Palin’s in 2008 (+9 percent), John Edwards’ in 2004 (+21), and Joe Lieberman’s in 2000 (+13).

Ryan’s numbers come closest to Dick Cheney’s in 2000 (+2).

Moreover, in the poll’s feeling thermometer, Ryan’s favorable/unfavorable score stands at 33 percent/32 percent.

Hart, the Democratic pollster, attributes Ryan’s mixed numbers to today’s increasingly partisan divide, with Republicans backing him, Democrats opposing him and independents fairly divided.

Romney’s two challenges
According to the poll, Mitt Romney has two challenges heading into next week’s Republican convention in Florida: repairing his image and selling his proposal to overhaul Medicare.

NBC/WSJ poll: Voters split on Ryan

For starters, Romney continues to have a net-negative favorable/unfavorable score (38percent/44 percent) – which no other modern Republican presumptive presidential nominee has had.

What’s more, Obama bests Romney by 35 points (58 percent to 23 percent) on the question of which candidate is more likeable, and by 22 points (52 percent to 30 percent) on caring about average people.

In addition, a majority of voters (51 percent) view the former Massachusetts governor’s approach to issues as being “out of step” with most Americans’ thinking. By comparison, 54 percent say Obama’s positions are “in the mainstream.”

And by a 36 percent to 6 percent difference, voters say what they have seen, heard and read about Romney’s tax returns – he has refused to release returns prior to 2010 – has given them a more negative impression of the Republican candidate. Forty-one percent say it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Problematically for Romney, similar negative margins exist with swing voters like independents, suburban voters and Midwest residents.

“That is as much negative as anything that comes out in this poll,” Hart says of Romney’s tax returns.

Testing the Medicare debate
Another negative for Romney in the poll is his plan to make substantial changes to Medicare, the government health-insurance program for seniors.

When voters are given a description of the Romney-Ryan plan – that future seniors would receive a guaranteed payment that some call a voucher, and that these seniors could use it to purchase either private insurance or to have access in the traditional Medicare program – twice as many call it a bad idea (30 percent) versus good idea (15 percent).

However, 51 percent of voters said they have no opinion.

In a separate question, 34 percent of voters say they agree with the statement that Romney believes this Medicare proposal “is a good idea because it would strengthen Medicare and reduce government costs … by giving future seniors more control over their own health-care dollars.”

NBC/WSJ poll: Approval of Congress hits bottom

In contrast, 50 percent say they agree with the statement that Obama believes this proposal “is a bad idea because it would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system giving seniors a set amount of money to pay for their health-care costs and leaving them to personally cover costs above this amount.”

What’s more, a plurality (39 percent) say that Medicare needs only minor modifications, versus 15 percent who believe it needs a complete overhaul, another 15 percent who think it’s OK the way it is and 27 percent who say it needs major changes.

And when asked which candidate is better on issues affecting seniors, 46 percent pick Obama and 34 percent choose Romney.

Obama’s own challenge: the economy
Yet Obama has challenges, too, and they’re the same ones that have dogged his campaign over the past year.

More than six in 10 believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, which is essentially unchanged from last month.

And just 36 percent believe the economy will improve in the next 12 months, though that’s up nine points since July’s poll.

Not surprisingly, Romney holds a six-point advantage over Obama (44 percent to 38 percent) on which candidate has better ideas on how to improve the economy.

Read full poll here (.pdf)

That said, 50 percent of voters in the poll believe the economy is recovering, and they’re split (46 percent to 46 percent) on whether the recent news about the economy has made them more optimistic or less optimistic.

The president’s overall job approval rating stands at 48 percent, and approval of his handling of the economy is at 44 percent.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted of 1,000 registered voters (300 reached by cell phone) from Aug. 16-20, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points. 

WEST CHESTER, PA -- Presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan blamed President Barack Obama for putting “almost 44,000 jobs at stake” here in Pennsylvania because of the looming defense cuts.

Speaking outside the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center, Ryan argued that under the Obama administration, “you either lose defense jobs in Pennsylvania or put small businesses further in a competitive disadvantage to compete in the global economy and lose small business jobs.”

"I’ve got a good idea – why don’t we take away President Obama’s job and create jobs for everybody no matter what industry they are in. That’s a good stimulus project," Ryan said.

Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, voted for the debt ceiling deal last summer, which included the sequestration of defense spending.

In the year since then, Ryan has joined other House Republicans in passing legislation to put off those defense cuts by finding savings elsewhere. However, the Obama administration has rejected these calling it an unbalanced package since it would rely on cuts elsewhere, rather than include a mix of tax hikes. The president has vowed to veto any attempt to undo the sequester.

The Wisconsin congressman, who made his Pennsylvania debut today on the stump, first talked about sequestration -- the pending $500 billion in defense cuts -- on the campaign trail in Virginia on Aug. 17.

Both Virginia and Pennsylvania have a heavy military presence in their states.

Ryan declared here just outside of Philadelphia: “national defense is the first priority of the federal government.”

The seven-term congressman has had his national security credentials called into question since being announced as VP as he typically deals with domestic issues.

However, in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that will air this evening, Ryan said he believes he has more experience with foreign policy than President Obama did when he took office in 2008.

“Well, most of the traveling I’ve done throughout my 14 years in Congress has been to the Middle East. You know, I’ve had men and women to war on more than one occasion. I’ve been to those funerals. I’ve talked to the widows and the wives and the parents. I’ve gone to Afghanistan and Iraq to meet with our troops, to learn from them. Obviously, I have a lot more experience than Barack Obama did when he became president. But if you take a look at our current posture, President Obama is quote-unquote, “leading from behind,” Ryan said.

According to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 22 percent of registered voters say Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan to be his running mate makes them more likely to vote for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

That's compared with 23 percent who say the Ryan pick makes them less likely to vote for Romney, and 54 percent who say the new running mate doesn’t affect their vote either way.

These numbers suggest the Ryan pick has had less of an impact on voters than previous running mates have had.

In 2008, 24 percent in the NBC/WSJ poll said Joe Biden made them more likely to vote for Barack Obama, versus 16 percent who said he made them less likely to vote for the Democratic ticket.

The margins for Sarah Palin in 2008 (34 percent more likely vs. 25 percent less likely), John Edwards in 2004 (28 percent vs. 7 percent), and Joe Lieberman in 2000 (20 percent vs. 7 percent) were also bigger than Ryan's.

The closest Ryan’s margin comes to is Dick Cheney’s in 2000 (16 percent more likely vs. 14 percent less likely).

In the poll’s feeling thermometer, moreover, Ryan’s favorable/unfavorable score stands at 33 percent/32 percent.

Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who co-conducted this survey with GOP pollster Bill McInturff, attributes Ryan’s mixed numbers to today’s increasingly partisan divide, with Republicans backing him, Democrats opposing him and independents fairly divided.

The full NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted Aug. 16-20 of 1,000 registered voters (300 reached by cell phone) -- will be released at 6:30 pm ET.

Even as many in the GOP called on Congressman Todd Akin to resign from the Missouri Senate race following his inflammatory comments on rape, Akin allies remained defiant.

NBC News has learned that the Missouri Republican is in Ohio today. He is doing radio interviews and "more filming" for TV ads.

Sources around Akin dismiss the calls for him to withdraw by 5 pm Central time saying, "The only deadline is November."

Advisers say that the six-term Missouri congressman remains "confident that he can beat Claire McCaskill, and he's prepared to do it."

Despite intense pressure from national elected officials and conservative voices to exit the race, "This isn't stressful for Todd," says a close associate. 

"This is a time for him to reach within, as he has, and stand up for what he has his entire life, what he believes in."

Advisers dismiss the critics as largely coming from Washington, adding that it's "easy to vilify someone you don't know" and claiming it's "not surprising for political figures to respond to the problem this way."   

Akin is ignoring the non-elected conservatives, who are upset with him as well. His advisers push back that those critics "might have the opportunity to reconsider" and "re-evaluate" as Akin continues his campaign.

Team Akin also asserts that those "putting out releases" were never his constituency. Their chief defense is that Akin has been "authentic and transparent" in his apology and that he is "openly hurting for anyone he hurt" with his comments. The newly released ad is described as an effort to give voters an opportunity to "see his heart in this circumstance."  

On the seemingly dire politics of staying in the race, Akin advisers assert, "The truth might work," referring to what they consider his sincere apology. 

Projecting unusual confidence in the face of so much opposition, advisers even predicted that Akin will be sworn into office in January "stronger having endured and overcome." 

And they claim he will consider this experience a "blessing," because Akin would have a new national audience for his grassroots causes and be better able to speak to people who believe the political process has "left them by the side of the road."

MINNEAPOLIS -- Vice President Joe Biden will join the thousands of Republicans set to descend on Tampa next week for their national convention.

"Any of you going to be in Florida?" Joe Biden joked to reporters after stopping at football practice at South High School in Minneapolis, MN. "Well, I'm the speaker at the convention, so I'm gonna be down there."

Campaign officials confirmed earlier Tuesday that Biden will attend campaign events in Tampa and other cities next week, coinciding with the Republican National Convention in the Florida city.

In a counterprogramming effort to Mitt Romney's formal acceptance of his party's nomination, Biden will appear in the area Monday and Tuesday.

The choice of Biden -- who caused a days-long uproar last week by suggesting that Republicans and Wall Street would "put y'all back in chains" -- signals that Biden is not stepping back from an aggressive role as the tip of the campaign's spear in attacking the GOP ticket.

That aggressiveness was on display Tuesday at a campaign rally in Minnesota, where Biden jabbed at Romney for "changing his tune" on China after comparing the opposite party to "squealing pigs" over their objections to Wall Street reforms.

"Over the objections where they sound like squealing pigs, over the objections of Romney and all his allies, we passed some of the toughest Wall Street regulations in history," Biden told a crowd of over a thousand at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis.

The vice president poked fun at Romney for past instances of changing political positions.

"Romney's changing his tune," Biden told the crowd. "I know that surprises you. I know you're shocked. Now he's talking tough on China, says we're not tough enough with China."

"I wish he had been that tough when the companies owned by Bain were exporting thousands of jobs to China," he added.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney called on Rep. Todd Akin (R) to end his bid for Senate in Missouri.

"As I said yesterday, Todd Akin's comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country," Romney said in a statement. "Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race."

Akin could end his campaign without much difficulty before 5 p.m. CST on Tuesday; if he were to press forward with his candidacy, he could still withdraw by Sept. 25, but would have to ask a court to remove his name from the ballot, and would have to pay the costs associated with reprinting ballots. In either case, the Missouri GOP would pick a new candidate.

The six-term congressman has weathered growing clamor to end his candidacy since saying this weekend that "legitimate rape" rarely leads to pregnancy. He is trying to unseat incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) this fall in a race critical to Republicans' hopes of retaking control of the Senate.

COLUMBUS, OH – President Obama unveiled a new line of attack against Mitt Romney over education, casting his opponent as out-of-touch, and claiming he would institute harmful cuts to student loans if elected.

The president seized on comments first made by Romney in April in Ohio, in which he encouraged would-be students to pursue entrepreneurship, even if it meant they would "borrow money, if you have to, from your parents."

“I want to make sure everybody understands, not everybody has parents who have the money to lend," Obama said Tuesday before a crowd of more than 3,000 at Capital University.

While Obama did not mention Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan by name, much of his criticism of Romney’s education policy referred to the cuts to programs, including education, in the Wisconsin congressman's budgets.

“The economic plan my opponent has would cut our investment in education by nearly 20 percent,” Obama said. “It would cut those grants so deeply that one million of those students who we have helped would no longer get a scholarship at all. It would cut financial aid for nearly 10 million students a year.”

But Ryan’s cuts leave the Republican ticket open to Democratic speculation about what they “could” cut – something the Obama campaign underscored in a radio ad that aired in Ohio ahead of the president’s visit.

“What does it say about Mitt Romney that he chose Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, the architect of a budget so extreme it could slash education funding by 20 percent?” a woman’s voice says in the minute-long radio ad.

“Ryan’s budget could cut Pell grants for up to 356,000 Ohio students,” the spot continues. 

Ryan has indicated he would maintain a maximum Pell grant level of $5,500 while also increasing eligibility requirements for students looking to apply for a grant.

Obama on Tuesday contrasted that with his expansion of the popular higher education program.

"Since I took office we have helped more than three million additional students afford a college education with grants that go farther than they did before,” he said.

He also touted what he characterized as a victory over House Republicans in the battle to keep student loan interest rates from doubling, as they were scheduled to at the end of July.

“We fought to make sure the interest rate on federal student loans didn’t go up over the summer. We won that fight,” Obama said. “Some of these Republican members of Congress would have allowed those rates to double,” he continued, his one allusion to Ryan’s colleagues in the House.

Obama will continue his focus on education this evening at a rally in Reno, Nevada.

CARNIEGE, Pa. -- At a steel manufacturer in Western Pennsylvania Tuesday, Congressman Paul Ryan took some swipes at President Obama, serving up red meat on guns and religion and even Joe the Plumber and "spread the wealth."

“Hey, I’m a Catholic deer-hunter," Ryan said at Beaver Steel just outside Pittsburgh. "I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion."

The comments the presumptive GOP vice-presidential nominee made referenced remarks Obama made on the campaign trail back in 2008.

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said then speaking at a San Francisco fundraiser four year ago. "And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate, and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Making his debut in the Keystone State today, Ryan -- an avid Green Bay Packers fan -- came out waving a Pittsburgh Steelers' "Terrible Towel” as he entered the venue with more than 2,000 people in attendance and proclaimed his passion for football.

“Wow. You know, these things are intimidating on TV,” Ryan admitted about the gold towel he then placed in his back pocket.

Steelers owner Dan Rooney, by the way, is currently serving as President Obama's ambassador to Ireland.

Speaking in front of a large “We did build IT!” sign, the seven-term congressman also gave the crowd another 2008 flashback, telling the crowd about Joe the Plumber.

“You know, every now and then President Obama sort of drops his veil," Ryan said. "He’s less coy about his philosophy. He sort of reveals his true governing policy, what he really believes. Remember back in 2008, remember the guy Joe the Plumber? Remember when he said, you know, ‘We wanna spread the wealth around’? It’s this belief that the economy is some fixed pie, that there’s only just so much money in America, it’s fixed, and that the job of the government is to redistribute the slices of the pie. That’s not true.”

These lines from Ryan on President Obama’s 2008 campaign are new to the congressman’s stump speech.

Updated 6:12 p.m. - Rep. Todd Akin (R) did not step aside as the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, allowing a key preliminary deadline to end his candidacy to come and go.

Akin, who's faced growing clamor from fellow Republicans to end his candidacy amid an uproar over his weekend comments about rape, said he believes it is important for him to press forward with his campaign against incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

"I want to make one thing absolutely clear: we are going to continue with this race," Akin said on the radio show of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Senate candidate.

"I've had a chance now to run through a primary. And the party people said that when you run through a primary, we'll be with you."

Akin had until 5 p.m. CST today to resign his Senate nomination without facing any procedural difficulties. He could still withdraw by Sept. 25, though he would have to petition a court to remove his name from the ballot, and have to pay costs associated with reprinting the ballots.

National Republicans have undertaken efforts to force the six-term congressman from the race. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has canceled its advertising reservations, and a pro-Republican super PAC has said it no longer plans to invest in the campaign, either. Top Republican senators have also canceled a planned fundraiser for Akin on Sept. 19.

Akin said he'd seen an influx of small-dollar donations since the initial uproar emerged on Sunday, and he said he'd received supportive calls from other colleagues in Congress, though he did not say who.

More significantly, national Republicans have begun openly agitating for Akin's ouster. Missouri's past five Republican senators released a joint statement today saying "the right decision is to step aside."

Orlin Wagner / AP

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., talks with reporters while attending the Governor's Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Mo.

Akin's controversy stems from comments he made last weekend on "The Jaco Report" on KTVI FOX 2 News, on which he said "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy in victims. Akin has since apologized, and said he was mistaken to assert that rape culdn't result in pregnancy. He released a television ad to that effect this morning.

Republicans had high hopes of beating McCaskill before Akin made his comments over the weekend. But the congressman's persistence in the race could jeopardize the GOP's chances in this key race, which provides one of their best opportunities to achieve the net gain of four seats Republicans need this fall to take control of the Senate in the next Congress.

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that the approval rating for Congress has tied its all-time low in the history of the survey, while its disapproval rating has tied its all-time high.

According to the poll, only 12 percent of registered voters approve of the legislative branch's job. The only other time it was that low was in Oct. 2008.

In addition, a whopping 82 percent disapprove of Congress' job, and the only other time it reached that level was in Aug. 2011 -- which was right after the bruising debt-ceiling fight. 

Much of this survey was conducted before two controversial or embarrassing incidents for House Republicans.

On Sunday, Aug. 19, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) -- who is the GOP's nominee in Missouri's Senate race -- explained his opposition to abortion even in cases of rape by saying: "If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut [the pregnancy] down."

Also on Sunday, Politico first reported that House Republicans last year took a dip in the Sea of Galilee in an evening involving alcohol; one member, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) was nude.

The NBC/WSJ poll also shows that 36 percent view the Republican Party in a positive light, versus 45 percent who view it negatively.

By comparison, 42 percent have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while 40 percent have a negative opinion. Both sets of numbers are similar to last month's.

The full NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted Aug. 16-20 of 1,000 registered voters (300 by cell phone) -- will be released at 6:30 pm ET.

The Justice Department has approved Virginia's new voter ID law, expanding the kinds of identification that will be honored at the polls while restricting the ability to vote without showing any ID.

Unlike states with the strictest photo ID requirement, Virginia will allow voters to cast a ballot if they present a student ID card issued by a state college or university as well as documents that carry no photo, including a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck showing the voter's name and address. 

Click here to read the Justice Department's letter to Virginia (.pdf)

The state already honors Virginia voter registration cards that have no photo, as well as more traditional forms of identification, including a driver's license or other government ID as well as an employee photo identification card.

The new law also ends the current practice of allowing a voter to cast a regular ballot simply by signing a sworn declaration of identity.  Under the new law, someone showing up at the polls without any form of identification will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.  It will be counted only if the voter submits an approved form of identification within three days. 

But that action does not need to be carried out in person.  The confirmation can also be sent by e-mail, regular mail, or fax.  Many states with strict photo ID requirements also permit casting a provisional ballot but require submission of proof in person for the ballot to be counted.

Virginia's Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, has ordered the state board of elections to send every registered voter a voter card, one of the forms of identification the law honors.

"This significant step ensures that every Virginia voter is guaranteed to have at least one of the many different valid forms of ID required to be presented at the polls.

"The legislation I signed into law is a practical and reasonable step to make our elections more secure while also ensuring access to the ballot box for all qualified voters," McDonnell said.

Virginia is one of 16 states covered by the Voting Rights Act, which requires them to get federal approval before changing election procedures.  The Justice Department notified the state Monday night that it posed no objection to the new law.

The chickens may have come home to roost… Can you always pick the most conservative candidate and still win races, especially in blue or purple states… Why Akin probably doesn’t exit today or tomorrow: He doesn’t owe the GOP establishment anything… Department of Bad Timing: GOP’s draft platform language opposes abortion, even in cases of rape… Obama to Romney yesterday: If you want to be president your life is an open book on things like taxes and finances… Breaking down July’s fundraising numbers… Team Romney maintains its current ad-spending advantage… This week’s 10 hottest TV markets… And Obama stumps in Ohio and Nevada, while Ryan campaigns in Pennsylvania.

Sid Hastings / AP

Republican candidate for the Senate, Todd Akin responds to a questions during a debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Friday, July 6, 2012.

*** The chickens may have come home to roost: As the political world waits and sees if Rep. Todd Akin (R) drops out of Missouri’s Senate contest by this afternoon’s deadline, here’s a question for us to ponder: How did we get here? How is the GOP on the verge of losing a very winnable Senate race if Akin remains in it? And why is the party pressuring him to drop out? Much of it comes down to the 2009-2010 cycle, when Republican leaders -- National Republican Senatorial Committee head John Cornyn and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell -- took so much heat for backing establishment candidates over Tea Party insurgents like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. The base of the party sent this unmistakable message to GOP leaders: Stay out of our primaries or get on board of the most conservative candidate. Yes, both Rubio and Paul ended up winning (as did Republicans across the board in 2010), but others lost, including Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and Christine O’Donnell. So Republican leaders -- the very folks who could have ensured that Missouri Republicans ended up with their most electable candidate (and no one ever thought it was Akin) -- chickened out, and the chickens have come home to roost. And here’s the ultimate question for Republicans: Can you always pick the most conservative candidate and still win races, especially in blue or purple states? Indeed, Republicans may not control the U.S. Senate in 2013 because they have been unable to put even a thumb on the scale for its preferred candidates.

*** Why Akin probably doesn’t exit today or tomorrow: As much of the party is pressuring him to exit the race, Akin is up with a new TV ad asking for forgiveness. “Rape is an evil act,” he says to the camera. “I used the wrong words in the wrong way. And for that I apologize. As the father of two daughters, I want tough justice for predators. I have a compassionate heart for the victims of sexual assault. And I pray for them… The mistake I made was in the words I said, not in the heart I hold. I ask for your forgiveness.” Here’s our guess for now: Akin isn’t withdrawing today or tomorrow. He might eventually (before that final Sept. 25 deadline, at which point he would have to ask a court to take his name off the ballot), but it won’t be now. Why? Put yourself in Akin’s shoes. No one in Washington wanted him as the GOP nominee in the first place (even if they didn’t try to get the person they wanted), and so he owes them nothing because -- in his mind -- these folks asking him to get out didn’t help him get there. And isn’t it perfectly rational in HIS mind that he take longer than 24 hours to decide whether to stay or go? It may not be comfortable for the powers that be, but given how hard U.S. Senate nominations are to come by, it seems nuts to think he’ll simply walk away from this in 48 hours, especially since he doesn’t believe he did anything wrong other than use the wrong word. And by the way, be careful of any polls claiming the race is still close. That is probably true now, but make no mistake: This race is NOT WINNABLE for Akin anymore, period. All Claire McCaskill has to do is run ads featuring every quote from uttered yesterday by every prominent Republican in the country denouncing Akin as unfit to run. 

*** The GOP’s draft platform language opposes abortion, even in cases of rape: First Read has confirmed a CNN report that the draft language on abortion in the Republican Party's official platform calls for the "Human Life Amendment," which would outlaw abortion in all circumstances (even in cases of rape or incest). An RNC official tells us that a full committee will vote on this draft language -- which was THE SAME LANGUAGE in 2004 and 2008 -- tomorrow, and the full convention will take it up on Monday. On Sunday night, after Todd Akin's controversial comments on abortion and rape first surfaced, the Romney campaign stated that a Romney-Ryan administration "would not oppose abortion in instances of rape." But that statement would run counter to the RNC's official platform, if the language is again adopted. Of course, this now means that George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney have disagreed with the party’s plank on abortion. But the timing for Romney and Republican Party couldn’t be any worse. Indeed, Romney’s biggest problem heading into the fall election could very well be the Republican brand, and it has become harder for him to differentiate himself from the brand when he added a high-profile House Republican to his ticket.

*** Obama to Romney: If you want to be president, your life is an open book: Maybe the most striking part of President Obama’s impromptu news conference yesterday -- other than the timing -- was his justification for targeting Romney’s tax returns. “The American people have assumed that if you want to be president of the United States, that your life is an open book when it comes to things like your finances,” he said. “I'm not asking him to disclose every detail of his medical records, although we normally do that as well. You know? I mean, this isn't sort of overly personal here, guys. This is pretty standard stuff. I don't think we're being mean by asking him to do what every other presidential candidate has done -- right? It's what the American people expect.” Candidates sometimes like to distance themselves from the negative attacks. But it’s clear the president wants to own this, and it also means he believes this strategy of targeting Romney’s wealth has worked to undermine the GOP candidate’s credibility with working-class voters in places like Ohio and Iowa.

*** July’s fundraising numbers are in: Here are the official fundraising numbers for July, per the Federal Election Commission. The Obama campaign raised $49 million, spent $59 million, and has $88 million in the bank. (That $88 million in the bank means that the campaign can spend almost $30 million more than it takes in during the final three months of August, September, and October.) By comparison, the Romney camp raked in $40 million, spent nearly $33 million, and has $30 million cash on hand. But when you factor in the national parties and the outside groups, the GOP has the clear advantage. The RNC raised $38 million and has $89 million in the bank (vs. the DNC’s $10 million raised and $15 million cash on hand). What’s more, American Crossroads raised $7 million and has $29 million in the bank, and Restore Our Future brought in $7 million and has $20 million cash on hand (compared with Priorities USA’s $5 million raised and $4 million in the bank). And this doesn’t include the 501c4 groups, which don’t have to file their fundraising numbers with the FEC.

*** Team Romney maintains its ad-spending edge: And with money equaling TV ads, you see why Team Romney (the campaign, RNC, outside groups) is outspending Team Obama on the airwaves this week by MORE than a 2-to-1 advantage, $26 million to $10 million. In fact, Team Romney has held the clear advertising edge for the past month and a half. (And it raises the question if this advantage is currently moving the needle and if it can move the needle come the fall.) Here’s the ad spending breakdown for this week (8/20 to 8/26): Restore Our Future $10.3 million, Obama $9.4 million, Americans for Prosperity $6.8 million, Romney $6.5 million, RNC $2.7 million, and Priorities USA $600K. To date, nearly $540 million has been spent in advertising in this presidential election, with Team Romney spending $292 million and Team Obama $248 million.

*** This week’s 10 hottest advertising markets (in terms of advertising points from 8/20 to 8/26):

1. Des Moines, IA (Obama 1100, Romney 870, ROF 700, AFP 550, RNC 200)
2. Colorado Springs, CO (Romney 1000, ROF 760, Obama 700, AFP 650, RNC 300)
3. Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA (Romney 875, ROF 860, Obama 730, AFP 675, RNC 175)
4. Toledo, OH (Obama 950, Romney 700, ROF 600, AFP 550, RNC 225)
5. Denver, CO (Obama 1000, Romney 700, ROF 500, AFP 450, RNC 250, Priorities 150)
6. Cedar Rapids, IA (Obama 1000, Romney 630, ROF 630, AFP 500, RNC 200)
7. Richmond-Petersburg, VA (Obama 1000, Romney 700, ROF 415, AFP 400, RNC 200, Priorities 135)
8. Quad Cities, IA (Obama 1000, Romney 725, ROF 450, AFP 400, RNC 130)
9. Charlotte, NC (Romney 800, ROF 700, AFP 500, Obama 450, RNC 250)
10. Cleveland, OH (Obama 1000, Romney 500, ROF 445, AFP 300, RNC 200, Priorities 120)

*** On the trail: Obama stumps in Columbus, OH at 1:00 pm ET and Reno, NV at 8:00 pm ET, and he will discuss education (contrasting his record with Romney-Ryan’s)… Romney raises money in Texas… Paul Ryan holds rallies in Carnegie, PA at 11:25 pm ET and West Chester, PA in at 4:00 pm, and he will talk about small businesses and will bring up Obama’s “You didn’t build that” remark… And Joe Biden campaigns in Minnesota.

*** Today’s back and forth: The RNC has a web video hitting Obama over negativity and for being “willing to ignore the truth”… The DNC has a video hitting Romney’s “shop around” comments when it comes to education… And the Romney camp has a web video knocking Obama on welfare.

Countdown to GOP convention: 6 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 13 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 43 days
Countdown to VP debate: 51 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 56 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 62 days
Countdown to Election Day: 77 days

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*** Tuesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: NBC’s Ron Mott on the road with Ryan in Pennsylvania… Rev. Francis Wade, interim dean of the National Cathedral, with an exclusive look at Romney and Obama’s responses to questions about their personal faith and the role of religion in the country… A deep dive with Democratic ad maker Tad Devine on how the tactics of the 1994 Romney-Kennedy fight echo in today’s race… More 2012 news with BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith, The Grio’s Joy Reid and MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp.

*** Tuesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson, CQ-Roll Call’s Shira Toeplitz, Democratic strategist Kiki McLean, GOP strategist Rick Tyler, iVillage Chief Correspondent Kelly Wallace, and Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston.

*** Tuesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) who talked on the house floor about her own rape; Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on the battle for the Buckeye state and his meeting with Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.  He’ll also be joined by Power Panelists Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, TheGrio.com contributor Sophia Nelson and democratic strategist Keith Boykin.

*** Tuesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include Politico’s Glenn Thrush, New York Magazine National Affairs Editor John Heilemann, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet, author of “True Believers” Kurt Andersen, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, and President of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist.

*** Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews NBC’s Chuck Todd, National Journal’s Major Garrett, EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), “The Real Romney” author Mike Kranish, the Washington Post’s Robert Samuelson and Jonathan Capehart and NBC’s Richard Engel.

*** Tuesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt, Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, GOP strategist Chip Saltsman, Michael Smerconish, and women’s right’s activist Shaunna Thomas.

*** Tuesday’s “The Cycle” line-up: MSNBC’s Toure, Krystal Ball, Steve Kornacki, S.E. Cupp interview Politico’s Glenn Thrush, Washington Post columnist Matt Miller, Michael Grunwald, and Sandra Upson.