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Democrats are beginning to sound more like Republicans when they talk about Ebola. And Republicans aremoving into overdrive with their criticism of the government's handling of the deadly virus.

The sharpened rhetoric, strategists say, suggests Democrats fear President Obama's response to Ebola in the United States could become a political liability in the midterm election and Republicans see an opportunity to tie increasing concerns about the disease to the public's broader worries about Obama's leadership.

"Thisis feeding into the Republicannarrative that Democrats don't know how to govern and government is too large," said Jim Manley, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). Democrats, Manley said, "are desperate to try to demonstrate that they have tough ideas to respond to the crisis."

Democrats from across the political spectrum have suddenly embraced the idea of a temporary travel ban from West African Countries battling Ebola, even as the Obama administration has resisted the plan and health officials have warned it could make things worse.

Meanwhile, Republicans are increasingly claiming Obama's response to Ebola illustrates his inability to deal with crisis, with recent polls showing a high level of concern about the president's policies on several fronts. They are trying to level that attack against Democratic candidates by tethering them to the president.

"The continual crises that this administration has found itself in has been something that has been a constant theme," National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Rob Collins told reporters Thursday, adding that he thinks Americans "are very anxious" about Ebola.

On Friday, two Democrats running in key Senate races called for a temporary travel ban from countries battling Ebola: Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Georgia's Michelle Nunn.

For Hagan, who publicly encouraged Obama to "temporarily ban the travel of non-U.S. citizens from the affected countries," it marked a shift from earlier this month when her Republican opponent, Thom Tillis, called for a travel ban but she didn't join him. Nunn's Republican opponent, David Perdue, has also vouched for a travel ban.

Even Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), a liberal Democrat who is not in any danger of losing reelection, called on Obama to "immediately suspend commercial flights from the West African nations into the United States, as well as suspend visas for their passport holders, until we can ensure that our health facilities are adequately prepared."

The moves come as polls show the public has little faith in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is in favor of tighter restrictions on travel. So far, two nurses who cared for a Liberian man who died of Ebola in a Dallas hospital have been diagnosed with the disease in the United States, leading to questions about how it happened and how officials can prevent it from happening again.

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Democrats are sounding like Republicans on Ebola while GOP moves into overdrive