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Poll: Likely Voters Favor a GOP-Led Congress
Monday, October 20, 2014 08:19 AM
By: Melanie Batley
People who are likely to vote in the Nov. 4 midterm elections this year say they prefer Congress to be controlled by the Republicans instead of the Democrats, a new poll has found.
According to a Wall Street Journal/ NBC News/ Annenberg survey conducted Oct. 10-16 of 1,172 voters, 49 percent of likely voters prefer a Republican-led Congress compared to 44 percent who would like a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Republicans also have the advantage among all registered voters. Forty-five percent of those surveyed said they'd prefer Congress to be led by the GOP, compared to 43 percent who prefer to have the Democrats at the helm. This is the first time in five weeks that the GOP came out ahead, according to The Journal.
The findings appear to reinforce polling results from last week that showed that Democrats are less interested in the election than Republicans.
The Wall Street Journal/ NBC News/ Annenberg survey also found that among those most interested in the election, 51 percent favored the Republicans compared to 44 percent for Democrats.
Lower-interest voters support the Democrats by 52 percent compared to 37 percent.
"[Today's] survey is yet more evidence that Democratic voters are tuning out the midterms. Democrats carried a 10-point lead among low-interest voters, who the party is trying to reach and motivate with vigorous turnout operations across the country. Republicans carried a 10-point lead in the new survey among voters who said they were highly interested in the election," The Journal said.
The findings come as pundits continue to predict that the Republicans have the best chance of taking control of the Senate.
Last week, Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, projected that the GOP could take up to eight seats.
"Our projection remains a five- to eight-seat Republican gain in the Senate, and with less than three weeks to go, we would much rather be holding the cards Republicans have been dealt versus the ones dealt to the Democrats as both sides play for a Senate majority," Sabato said in his "Crystal Ball" analysis.
The Washington Post also predicted last week that Republicans will take control of the upper chamber, and explained its analysis by looking at the most competitive races.
And as of Sunday, The New York Times election model gives Republicans a 69 percent chance of winning the Senate.
President Barack Obama's low approval ratings are believed to be a major factor dragging down the Democrats' chances. His support among women, in particular, has dropped sharply in battleground states where Democrats are already lagging among male voters.
