It is hard not to see the Republicans as largely dispirited judging by the results of a recent Rasmussen Reports poll. Rasmussen asked a sample of voters how likely it was that the leading Republican and Democratic candidates were to win the Presidential election.

For all of the Democratic candidates, a clear majority of voters said they would win the November election if they were nominated for President. Overall. 55% said Obama would win if he were nominated, 54% gave a similar answer for Edwards, and an almost identical 53% said Clinton would win if she got the nod.

By contrast, Rudy Guiliani topped the Republican list of contenders with 49% saying he would win if nominated, followed by Romney and Thompson each at 36%. Among the Republican base, the only candidate who inspired any confidence was Guiliani (72% likely to win if nominated). By contrast, less than three fifths of Republicans said Thompson (57%) or Romney was likely to win if nominated (55%).

A recent analysis of head-to-head match-ups found, on average, a modest advantage for the Democratic candidates.

Douglas Schoen is a founding and former partner of Penn Schoen & Berland, and a Fox News Contributor.