Though polls show Republicans ahead in a number of key U.S. Senate contests, a new national poll shows a close contest between the two major parties on the question of who voters would like to see control Congress.
Forty-six percent of likely voters want to see a Congress controlled by Republicans and 45 percent want to see one controlled by Democrats, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.
By comparison, Republicans held a seven-point lead on the same question, 50 percent to 43 percent, in mid-October 2010 before an election in which they re-took control of the U.S. House and picked up seats in the Senate in a big year for the GOP.
And on the question of who voters are likely to support in their own congressional district, 43 percent of likely voters say the Democratic candidate and 41 percent say the Republican candidate. Four years ago, the GOP had a six-point advantage on that question, 47 percent to 41 percent.
When narrowed to a head-to-head choice between a Republican and a Democratic candidate, voters were split at 48 percent apiece.
That’s not to take away from Republicans’ prospects this year: political handicappers say the GOP is favored to re-take control of the U.S. Senate and make gains in the House. But the final pre-election WSJ/NBC survey indicates the national mood might not be quite where it was four years ago.
The overall survey of 1,200 registered voters taken from Oct. 30-Nov. 1 has a margin of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points, and the subsample of 826 likely voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.41 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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