Likely voters want Republicans to control Congress: AP/GfK poll

A new AP/GfK poll shows that Americans are effectively split on which party they would like to see control Congress after the midterm elections, but people most likely to vote favor the GOP by an 8-point margin.

Thirty-eight percent of all adults want to see Democrats in control and 36 percent want to see Republicans. But when those surveyed were winnowed down to those likeliest to vote, 47 percent want to see Republicans in control and 39 percent want Democrats.

Including leaners, 40 percent of likely voters say they plan to cast their ballot, or already have, for the Republican candidate in their congressional district and 32 percent say they’re voting for the Democratic candidate.

Six in 10 likely voters disapprove of President Obama’s job performance, a trend that could work against Democrats trying to motivate less-than-enthusiastic voters to the polls.

Mr. Obama still does better than Congress, though: about nine in 10 likely voters disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

Fifty-five percent of likely voters think Republicans will win control of the U.S. Senate, where Democrats currently hold an effective 55-45 majority, and 45 percent think Democrats will retain control. More than seven in 10 likely voters believe Republicans will retain control of the House.

The survey of 1,608 American adults, including 968 likely voters, was taken from Oct. 16-20. The margin of error for the entire sample is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.