As we steam toward the election, pollsters are after new ways to peer into voters’ psyches. In this week’s Attitude Check, we check in with Gallup’s editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, about how Americans are viewing Republicans and Democrats on a couple of subjects.

First up: Which party can do a better job “keeping the country prosperous” —  a question recently asked.

Right now, the Democrats are beating the Republicans as the party best able to keep the country prosperous, 51-42 percent. It’s a turnaround from the last several years, and it could bode well for the Dems in the upcoming elections.

When it comes to the question: “which party do you think will do a better job protecting the country from international terrorism and military threats?”, the two parties are tied — before the news yesterday of the embassy killings in Libya.