The latest round of polling from NBC News has some seriously disturbing news for Democrats. Their rule under the Biden administration is driving the country into the ground and people have seriously started to notice. On the issues that matter most to voters, the Democrats’ numbers have plunged to levels not seen in decades. And even though neither party is viewed particularly favorably, the public appears to place more trust in Republicans. This is particularly true of the economy, where the poll found that the GOP holds a shocking 21-point advantage over the Dems, 49 to 28. But does that mean that they’re preparing to head out and vote in an actual red wave? Don’t get your hopes up, at least not yet.

The latest NBC News poll finds Republicans with a 21-point advantage on which political party better handles the economy, with 49% of registered voters picking the GOP and 28% picking the Democratic Party.

That’s the largest lead Republicans have held on this question in our poll dating back to 1991.

At the same time, the NBC News survey shows Democrats with just a 2-point edge on which party better looks out for the middle class, with 36% picking the Democratic Party and 34% selecting the GOP.

That’s the Democratic Party’s smallest advantage on this question dating back to 1989.

It’s not just economic issues where Republicans are running up the score. The survey also shows them leading by significant margins on crime (46-20), border security (50-20), and immigration (45-27). The places where the Democrats still outperform the GOP significantly are education, abortion, and healthcare. NBC also asked which party does a better job “protecting democracy” for some reason, but the result was a coin toss.

The Democrats’ plan to run on “Bidenomics” has clearly fallen flat on its face. The border crisis has been such a disaster and dragged on for so long that even blue-state Democrats are sounding the alarm and the legacy media has surrendered on avoiding the topic. The same goes for the spiraling crime rates in cities. There are no doubt still plenty of people out there who don’t know how much they can or should trust Republicans on these issues, but at this point, they’re probably asking how the GOP could possibly do any worse.

In more “normal” times, all of this would add up to great news for Republicans next year. The last time we saw conditions deteriorating this badly was during the Carter administration. In 1980, Ronald Reagan capitalized on that with a stunning win, sweeping 44 states and ringing up an electoral college score of 489-49. But that was an earlier time when more of the country was willing to give either party a chance if they could just figure out a way to make things work.

I seriously doubt that any of us will live to see a landslide election on the scale of 1980 again. People can hate the current conditions and the policies that drive them, but a significant number of them will hold their noses and vote for the same people they always support anyway. Our politicians have gotten far too good at dividing the nation to the point where playing a game of “own the cons” or “own the libs” will outweigh people’s own personal interests. At the Washington Times, Eden Villalovas points out that even if the Democrats are being viewed less favorably, that doesn’t mean that their supporters are suddenly falling in love with Republicans.

Both Democrats and Republicans are viewed unfavorably, with the GOP holding steady numbers in the past couple of decades. Currently, 56% view the Republican Party unfavorably, while 42% view it favorably. Democrats are falling on similar margins while usually holding the lead, with 58% having an unfavorable view of the blue party and 40% a favorable view.

The numbers started becoming seriously entrenched toward the end of George W. Bush’s presidency and they haven’t been showing much significant movement since then. That’s why no matter how good today’s numbers may look for the GOP, we’re still going to be slugging it out for a handful of “persuadable” voters in a few swing states next November. And wishing it were otherwise isn’t going to make it so.