when will the republicans win another presidential election?

[Nym90]

If the country moves to the left politically, both parties will also move left. This may well result in a Republican victory, but overall it would still be a victory for liberalism.

1996 is the perfect example. On paper it was a big Democratic victory in the Presidential election. But in reality, it wasn't, because both parties had moved to the right. Conservatives were the true winners since they had forced Clinton and the Democrats to move to the right in order to win, thus essentially removing true liberalism from the spectrum of political debate for the next 10 years.

Looking to 2008, conservatives have to be a might upset about the fact that even Rudy Guiliani may now be considered too far to the right to win, while Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards are now considered reasonable moderates by most rather than extreme liberals.

But not to worry, eventually a Democratic President and the Democratic Congress will screw up and go too far to the left, and then the Republicans will win. But they'll probably have to moderate themselves to do it.

Usually when a party loses, they reevaluate their positions and reinvent themselves. The Republicans can't do that yet after their 2006 defeat, because the primary reason for that defeat was Bush and the war in Iraq. They need to wait until after 2008 before they can purge themselves of that albatross.

[Nym90]

It's very hard to say, each party seems entirely out of touch with the populace..approval ratings for each Party are starting to hit all time lows.  The Republicans are still struggling with the fact that they think they're still in power.  They have President Bush threatening veto on so many big issue bills, and he and the Democrats are each telling each other to be partisan.  Nothing is getting done in Congress because of the fighting going on.  I see right now just as high of chance the Republicans have with winning the next election as the Democrats.

Approval ratings for Congress are always low, and nothing has changed with that. Approval ratings for Democrats in Congress specifically are much higher than for Republicans, as are favorable ratings of the parties in general.

The President and his approval ratings always have and still do drive the national political mood. Congress as an institution is always disliked, but most Americans still like and approve of their own Congressman.