This afternoon, Gallup released a new poll showing the majority “enthusiastic voters” are leaning in favor of the GOP. While Democrats and Republicans remain essentially tied, at 45 vs. 46 percent in terms of voter preference, those most “enthusiastic” are choosing the GOP by a whopping 57 percent. This number isn’t terribly surprising and it underscores the harsh reality facing many in the Democratic party.

The country is in the midst of a perfect storm–high unemployment and rising consumer prices (2.3% in 12 months) are conspiring to slowly delay an economic recovery. Any resulting discontent among voters will ultimately be passed on to the party in power, despite populist efforts to reform health care or reign in Wall Street. Combined with the trend of the party in power losing seats during a midterm election, and Democrats could lose up to 50 seats in the House. Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight recently suggested the best case scenario is a 20 seat loss. Ouch.

This shouldn’t be surprising, as discontent has taken over the country in the form of not only “tea partier” types, but I would argue so-called “mainstream Americans” as well–Democrat or Republican. Whether it’s the person we buy our coffee from, your kid’s soccer coach or the people we work with, the questions asked remain the same. Will I have my job tomorrow? Will my family have adequate health care? Can we afford to fill up the car with gas? No matter how many pieces of legislation we pass, whether it be health care or climate bills, these questions will not be answered in full by November. But it’s possible Democrats can go a better job of selling the “win.”

November will be about reminding the American people why Democrats were put in the majority to begin with–to bring about the long term and forward-looking notion of change. This means fighting for Main St., not Wall St. And this certainly means laying the ground work to begin a transition to an easier and more cost-effective health care system. One that will ultimately save lives and the money of tax payers–a real pocketbook issue.