Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 46%, Democrats 38%
After holding double-digit leads for the past two weeks, Republicans lead Democrats by eight points on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending January 16, 2011.
New Rasmussen Reports telephone polling finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters nationwide say they would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate, while 38% would choose the Democrat instead.
Last week, Republicans posted a 47% to 36% lead over Democrats. 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 it has tapered off slightly since then.
Republicans lead by 16 points among men but run even with Democrats among women. The GOP holds a 22-point lead among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
While the margin has varied somewhat from week-to-week, Republicans have been consistently ahead on the Generic Ballot since June of last year, with a lead that has run as high as 12 points and as low as three. By contrast, when Barack Obama took office as president in late January 2009, Democrats enjoyed a seven-point lead on the Generic Ballot.
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