The fear card

The Republicans and the Bush administration played the fear card in 2002 and 2004. It worked. The are attempting to use it again in 2006 but it's not. The reason it's not working is not that people don't continue to be afraid but that they don't feel the Bush administration and it's Republican sycophants in the congress are capable of protecting them. The chart on the left is from a report by World Public Opinion. As you can see only 26% support the current approach to US foreign policy. The fact that only 54% of the Republicans support Bush's foreign policy is an indication of why the Republican lawmakers are in such deep trouble.

On the chart on the left you can see that 60% think that the Bush administration foreign policy has increased the possibility of a domestic terrorist attack. As a result when the Republicans play the fear card they are giving a majority a reason not to vote for them.
There is the competence issue as well. Everyday there is new evidence that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being lost.