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​​Voters split on generic congressional ballot ahead of midterms: poll

Greg Nash-photo illustration

Just months ahead of the November midterm elections, voters are still split on which political party they would vote for on a generic congressional ballot, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.

A new Politico-Morning Consult poll found that if the election for Congress was held in voters’ districts that day, 43 percent of voters would most likely vote for the Democratic candidate, while 42 percent would likely vote for the Republican one.

A separate 16 percent polled said they either had no opinion or did not know, an indicator of the work both parties will have to do in the coming months to sway voters.

Broken down by gender, 39 percent of men polled would vote for the Democratic candidate compared to 45 percent who would choose the Republican candidate. Among women, 46 percent would choose the Democratic candidate compared to 38 percent who would choose the Republican one.

However, there are even clearer differences when broken down by race.

Half of white voters polled said they would choose the Republican candidate compared to 38 percent who would choose the Democratic candidate. 

Comparatively, 61 percent of Black voters and 42 percent of Hispanic voters said they would choose the Democratic candidate, in contrast to 12 percent of Black voters and 32 percent of Hispanic voters who would choose the Republican candidate. 

The midterms are expected to be challenging for congressional Democrats given their delicate 50-50 Senate majority with Vice President Harris’s tie-breaking vote and its slim majority in the House. 

The Cook Political Report’s latest Senate race ratings rate three Democratic-held seats and two Republican-held seats as toss-ups. In the House, 16 Democratic-held seats and eight Republican-held seats are also considered toss-ups. 

The Politico-Morning Consult poll was conducted from April 15 to April 17 with 2,005 registered voters surveyed. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. 

Tags 2022 midterms elections Generic ballot house Senate

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