Whenever you see something like that in a polling story, remind youself: It never is.

Case in point — a just-released poll from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling titled “Bad news for congressional Republicans,” noting that

after a little more than 3 months in charge House Republicans have fallen so far out of favor with the American public that it’s entirely possible Democrats could take control of the House back next year.

43% of voters think that House Republicans are doing a worse job now than the Democrats did, compared to only 36% who think the GOP has brought an improvement. 19% think things are about the same. 62% of voters thinking that the Republicans have either made things worse or brought no improvement to an already unpopular Congress does not bode particularly well for the party.

46% of voters say that if there was an election for Congress today they would vote Democratic, compared to only 41% who would vote Republican. That five point advantage for Democrats is only a hair below the margin Republicans won by in the national popular vote last year.

First of all, the election is nearly 19 months away, so a lot can and will happen between now and then. And while PPP’s story includes a mild caveat noting that Republicans hold an advantage in redistricting, this analysis suggests that the GOP’s leverage is big (the GOP has an edge in at least 22 new seats; Democrats are even or ahead in 18 new seats), and the GOP completely controls the process in 23 states, vs. Democrat control in seven.

Moreover, President Obama is expected to break a recent promise (horrors!) and push tax increases in this week’s budget talk. Plus, we will have gone through at least one if not two more budget cycles before voters go to the polls in 2012. We’ll see if Republicans adopt any of House Budget Committee chief Paul Ryan’s proposals to restructure entitlements — and if there’s a backlash if they do; if personal incomes, which are falling, rebound; if job growth continues; how the ever-expanding overseas wars are going; etc.

The PPP poll may offer some tentative happy talk for Democrats, but the election is a long time from now.