By HEATHER BOSCH
KIRO Radio

New polls are giving Republicans the edge as we near the Congressional midterm elections in November.

A new Rasmussen poll shows 48 percent of likely voters support their Congressional Republican candidate. Only 36 percent would vote Democrat.

An NBC, Wall Street Journal poll shows Republicans have a 9 point edge over Democrats.

CBS political analyst Dotty Lynch says the problem for the Democrats is not the Iraq and Afghanistan wars or President Obama's popularity, but the sagging economy. "It's hurting them a lot."

She says Democrats have been trying to convince voters it was the Republican policies, under President Bush, that lead to the current economic crisis, but "unless the economy shows some signs of improving, all that rhetoric isn't going to help."

Most analysts predict the Republicans will gain Congressional seats. "A reasonable guess would be Republicans barely in control of the House, Democrats barely in control of the Senate," says Wall Street Journal editor Gerald Seib, "and the question in Washington DC then will become, who's in charge in that kind of situation. And maybe the answer is no body is really in charge."