Democrats now lead Republicans by eight percentage points in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% of voters would vote for their district’s Democratic candidate while 36% would choose the Republican candidate.

The latest numbers represent the Democrats’ biggest lead since October 12. A week ago, the Democrats held a five-point advantage over the GOP. For the full month of November, Barack Obama’s party held just a three-point lead on the ballot.

The week prior to Election Day, the Democrats had a six-point lead on the GOP. The gap tightened to just two points the following week. In the Senate contests on Election Day, all Democratic incumbents were reelected, and the party won several seats away from the Republicans to reach a total of 58 out of 100.

But Democratic hopes for a 60-Democrat filibuster-proof Senate were dashed when incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss won his runoff election earlier this month. The Minnesota race between Republican incumbent Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken is so close that it's still being officially recounted.

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

Men are even more divided between the parties than last week, favoring the GOP by just a 40% to 39% margin. Women strongly support the Democrats, 47% to 32%.

White voters are also fairly evenly divided this week, giving the GOP candidate the edge by a 40% to 38% margin. Black voters heavily favor Democrats, 76% to 14%.

Voters not affiliated with either party now narrowly choose the Democrats, 30% to 29%. Last week, unaffiliated voters were in favor of the GOP 32% to 28%.

Voters who attend religious services every week or more than once a week strongly favor the Republicans, while those who rarely or never attend church heavily support the Democrats. Voters who attend church a few times a month are more evenly divided, favoring Democrats by just a 39% to 38% margin.

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