MSNBC's First Read political blog shares a very interesting as-yet-unreleased number from the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:

The most striking thing about the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is the damage that's been done to the GOP brand. Bush is not only unpopular (his approval rating is just 29% and favorability is only 32% -- both all-time lows for him). But his unpopularity also is dragging down the image of the Republican Party to its lowest level ever in this survey (28% positive rating). For better or worse, the GOP needs Bush to improve if they want the party's image to improve.

Via Jonathan Singer, who comments: "Although it's not terribly easy to draw a conclusion from a description of poll numbers that does not contain all of the available data, these numbers do not seem to bode well for the electoral hopes of the Republican Party. And these numbers should not be viewed as simply in a vacuum, just one outlier poll making a conclusion that is not supported by the preponderance of evidence. Polling earlier this year from CBS News and The New York Times showed the exact same thing -- the Republican Party's image has seldom, and perhaps even never in recent memory, been as bad as it is today."

So where do GOP Senators stand on the President's plans to escalate the war?

Despite the administration's agressive campaign to garner support for the escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq, the plan is increasingly being met with skepticism where it really hurts: key Republicans in the Senate. And if the President loses his own party, he loses his bid to escalate.

So we're keeping track here at Election Central of which GOP Senators have passed judgment on the plan and what they've said. Here's the tally as it stands now: Seven Republicans firmly against and nine more expressing reluctance or skepticism.

Our full rundown of who stands where is after the jump -- and we'll update it as new info comes in. Have we missed anyone? Let us know in comments or by email (talk at talkingpointsmemo.com).

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