Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 45%, Democrats 37%
Republicans hold an eight-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending March 20, 2011.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 45% of Likely U.S. Voters nationwide say they would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate, while 37% would choose the Democrat instead. Republican support is down one point from last week.
The GOP has been consistently ahead on the Generic Ballot since June 2009, leading by as much as 12 points and as little as three. The week before Election Day last November, support for Republicans peaked at 51%, the highest level of support either party has enjoyed in the last two years, but GOP support tapered off after that. Democrats enjoyed a seven-point lead on the Generic Ballot when Barack Obama took office as president in late January 2009.
Republicans lead by just six points among men and by 11 points among women. For the past several weeks, Republicans have held a large lead among men and run almost even with Democrats among women. The GOP holds a 16-point lead among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
Results for this survey are compiled on a full-week basis, and crosstabs for full-week results and Generic Ballot trends are available for Platinum Members only.
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