• by Joe Mandese , Yesterday

The midterm elections are still nearly eight months away, but if they were held today, the generic ballot says Democratic candidates would have a greater chance of winning.

That's the generic polling. But if you drill into the key issues on the minds of American voters, things are looking even worse for Republicans, according to one of the regular monthly briefings on the "New America" Thursday by Ipsos tracking team.

The economy has been and continues to be the No. 1 issue for most American voters, and a majority of them believed it was heading in the wrong direction before the war in Iran, especially how Americans feel about job security and the cost of groceries, utilities, healthcare, and following the war, the cost of gasoline (see above and below for the pre-/-post), according the Ipsos' tracking.

On top of that, the Ipsos analysts pointed out that only about 40% of eligible voters actually vote in the mid-terms and that Democrats seem more energized over other important issues -- like small d democracy -- and are more likely to turn out.

As important as those issues may be, it's still the economy, but the biggest developing factor within it, is how American voters are feeling about what's going on at the pump.

It's hard to predict how that will play out months from now, but as of two weeks into the "excursion," a plurality disapprove of America's war with Iran.