The down-and-out GOP may not be so down-and-out. Somebody tell Sens. Snowe, Collins and Specter.

According to Rasmussen Reports, support for the Republicans in Congress is almost at the same level as the Democrats. And the Democrats are losing independent voters:

Voters not affiliated with either party support the GOP more by a 34% to 28% margin, while another 29% are undecided. Twelve percent (12%) of Democratic voters say they would vote for a member of the opposite party, while 8% of Republicans say the same.

So, not even a month into the Obama administration and the GOP is already gaining ground. If the midterms were held today, Republicans would pick up 40 seats in the House?

It’s 1994 all over again, just swap out nationalized health care with stimulus and Hillary with Obama. Now all the Republicans need is a Newt Gringrich to lead them to victory.

Watch Democratic Chairman Tim Kaine try to explain — er, talk around — the numbers (via Conservative Punk):

And a few other items of note from Rasmussen:

• 67 percent say they can do better than Congress (I think that number is soft)
• 58 percent don’t think their congressman will even read the stimulus bill before voting on it
• And, 62 percent say the stimulus should have more tax cuts and less spending

So who’s winning this argument? Like I already said, the GOP really needs some strong leadership to make this last — the party’s made some inroads, but I don’t know that the talent is there to make it count.