Democrats Still Ahead on Generic Ballot

Democrats continue to lead Republicans on the Rasmussen Reports Generic Congressional Ballot.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone and online survey finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters would choose the Democratic candidate if the elections for Congress were held today. Forty-two percent (42%) would opt for the Republican. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Since Rasmussen Reports began the weekly surveying in early May, Democrats have led every week but one when the two parties were tied. Their lead has ranged from one to eight points.

At this time in 2014, prior to the last non-presidential year congressional elections, Democrats held a 40% to 39% lead. But Republicans went on to gain control of the Senate in those elections and increase their majority in the House of Representatives.

Rasmussen Reports is updating the Generic Congressional Ballot findings weekly on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. Eastern until the midterm elections in November.

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The survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted on September 23-27, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans prefer the candidate from their party, while 84% of Democrats opt for their party's candidate. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Democrats post a 44% to 35% lead. But 20% of unaffiliated voters either prefer someone else or are undecided. 

In the U.S. House of Representatives, all 435 seats are on November’s ballot. Republicans now have a 47-seat majority in the House, so Democrats would need to take away 24 GOP seats to gain control.

In the U.S. Senate, 32 seats are up for grabs this November, but 23 of them are now held by Democrats. So Democrats need to hold all 23 of those and pick up two of the Republican seats to win control of the Senate. 

Forty-seven percent (47%) of all voters approved of President Trump's job performance in September.

“Make America Great Again” was the president's campaign slogan, but just 18% think we're there yet. Forty-five percent (45%) say more needs to be done.

Forty percent (40%) of voters now think the country is heading in the right direction.

Voters are slightly more likely now to believe Christine Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but last Thursday’s high-profile Senate hearing didn’t change many minds. Most voters still think Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation is likely. 

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.