The Democrats’ lead has held steady this week in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that, if given the choice, 45% of voters would choose their district’s Democratic candidate, while 37% would choose the Republican candidate.

Support for the GOP is identical to last week, while support for the Democrats has dropped a single percentage point.

From now through Election Day, Rasmussen Reports is tracking the Generic Congressional Ballot on a weekly basis and releasing the results each Thursday.

Over the past year, Democratic support has ranged from a low of 43% to a high of 50%. Over that same time, Republicans have been preferred by 34% to 41% of voters nationwide.

The Democrats continue to hold on to a solid lead among unaffiliated voters nationwide. The latest numbers show the Democrats with a 34% to 28% lead. However, just less than a third of unaffiliated voters (30%) are not sure which party they would choose.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).

White voters remain divided between the parties, with 42% who would vote GOP and 40% who choose the Democrat. Black voters overwhelmingly choose the Democrats by an 80% to 9% margin.

Men are evenly divided among the parties at 41% each. Women favor Democrats by a 49% to 34% margin.

Barack Obama has managed to pull ahead of John McCain nationally over the past two weeks, according to the daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

Rasmussen Reports tracking data also shows just 10% of voters believe the nation is heading in the right direction, while 86% think the country has gotten off on the wrong track. Those numbers have are decidedly more negative than last week.

Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.