It’s been a long time (months? years?) since we’ve seen national
Democrats in such a good mood about their electoral chances. Over the
last few weeks — amid a spate of legislative movement, falling gas
prices, stumbling Republican Senate candidates and the sense of a
growing backlash to efforts to restrict abortion — the fight for control
of Congress seems to have tightened. Gone are the days when pundits
confidently predicted a red tsunami.

The latest NBC News poll — which still shows Republicans with a lead in
the generic congressional ballot — had two data points that stuck out to
us:

1. Democrats have almost eliminated the enthusiasm gap with Republicans.
“According to the survey, 68% of Republicans express a high level of
interest in the upcoming election … versus 66% for Democrats,” notes
Mark Murray. “That 2-point GOP advantage is down from 17 points in March
and 8 points in May.” 

2. Voters ranked “threats to democracy” as a more important issue than
cost of living.

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Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.