We've never seen voter volatility like this

• Voter loyalties are gyrating. Republican victories in this year’s elections for the House of Representatives seem almost certain to make 2010’s voting the third national election in a row in which more than 20 seats in the House have changed party control. That hasn’t happened in more than half a century, since the years just after World War II…

• Both parties are sinking simultaneously. Normally if Democrats go down in public esteem, Republicans go up, and vice versa. Not now. Despite the fact that this year’s most motivated voters say they’re more likely to vote Republican than Democrat in the fall, the Republican party just this week received its lowest positive rating in the 21-year history of The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll…

• The traditional American spirit of optimism about the future is fading. In two straight monthly Journal/NBC News polls, only a third of those surveyed have said the economy will get better in the next year. Notably, this level of pessimism cuts across all income lines.