NBC/WSJ poll: Most voters prefer health-care 'changes' over repeal

The new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has mostly good news for Republicans, who tie Democrats 44-44 in the generic ballot and who see most of their arguments catching fire. One argument that isn't? Total repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

That's a 13-point margin for "give it a chance," which is not the argument conservatives want to go to the electorate with.

The GOP's strength comes without any kind of surge in its popularity. The Democrats have a 37-42 positive-negative rating; the GOP has a 30-42 rating. The tea party, as we've seen in other polls, looks better because of a lower negative rating -- overall it's 31-30. (Interestingly, the lowest recorded positive/negative rating for Democrats in the poll came in July 2006, five months before the party won Congress.) And while I see very, very little evidence of tea party splinter candidates hurting the GOP, there's some hunger for it.