As we kick off WHIP this week, let’s take a look at the current political landscape and see how the parties are doing in the latest polls. Some interesting numbers show a slight lead for Republicans. Rasmussen’s most recent poll has the GOP ahead in a generic ballot.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 41% said they would vote for their district’s Republican candidate while 39% would choose the Democrat.

For those respondents who classified themselves as “investors”, Republicans hold a 10 point lead, 46% to 36%. Democrats still lead with those who did not classify themselves as investors by 12%.

The Democrat controlled Congress is seeing a nice bump in it’s overall approval rating, coming in at 30% in a recent CBS News survey. That’s up from their lows in 2008 of a mere 12%, but still a far cry from the 67% approval rating that Congress held in the days shortly after 9-11.

As for the President, 65% of Americans give him good marks according to today’s Gallup daily tracking. This is down only a few points from his peak just after inauguration.

The economy is still the most important issue for Americans, and with a recent resurgence in the Dow, including a considerable bounce of about 500 points today, it seems that, at least for the time being, our retirement plans may be making a comeback. We’ll see how that impacts these numbers for both parties in the coming weeks.