They've become more trusted by the public on values issues:
A new poll by Newsweek indicated the Foley scandal was doing significant damage to the Republicans' political fortunes and could sink their chances of holding onto control of Congress on Election Day, Nov. 7. The poll found that 52 percent of Americans, including 29 percent of Republicans, believe Hastert was aware of Foley's Internet communications with underage pages and tried to cover up Foley's actions. More of those polled, 42 percent, now say they trust Democrats to do a better job handling moral values than Republicans; 36 percent favored Republicans on the values question.
And Jim Kolbe apparently confronted Foley as far back as 2000 about inappropriate emails to pages. The bottom line for me is not whether Hastert knew specifically or not. The bottom line is that he should have known. Negligence is not an excuse.