Newsdeck

POLITICS

Democrats close the voter enthusiasm gap with Republicans in NBC pre-midterm elections poll

Attendees hold signs during a Democratic National Committee rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on 5 November 2022. Photo: Bloomberg)

Democrats closed the gap with Republicans in voter enthusiasm during the final days before the US midterm elections, which remain 'highly competitive', according to an NBC News poll.

While that’s a measure of good news for President Joe Biden as his party seeks to retain control of both houses of Congress, a Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that Republicans are more certain about actually casting a vote.

Both surveys provide renewed evidence that Republicans have the edge on economic concerns and that President Joe Biden’s popularity remains low. Republicans are positioned to take control of the House, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Registered Democrats and Republicans expressing high interest in the midterms are tied at 73% in the latest NBC poll, erasing Republicans’ 9 percentage point edge in an October survey. Several states with competitive races, including Georgia, are reporting high-to-record turnout in early voting.

Yet Republican-leaning voters in the Washington Post-ABC poll were more certain about voting than Democratic-leaning voters by an 80% to 74% margin. Certainty to vote among Democrats is running 8 percentage points lower than in 2018, while holding steady among Republicans.

National trends aside, control of the Senate hinges on a few key races. Biden and former president Barack Obama stumped in Pennsylvania on Saturday for US Senate candidate John Fetterman, whose race with Republican contender Mehmet Oz has tightened in recent weeks.

Republicans have captured the momentum and caught up in polls in several high-profile races as attention has shifted to the economy. Opposition parties traditionally do well in midterm elections, and polls show that Republicans’ focus on the economy, inflation running at 40-year highs and crime has resonated among voters.

Biden’s approval rating was little changed at 44% in the NBC poll, with 53% of registered voters disapproving of his job performance and 70% saying the US is “headed in the wrong direction”.

“President Biden and the Democrats are in for a miserable election,” Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who helped conduct the survey, told NBC. Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who also worked on the poll, said it shows an increasing competitiveness that could help Democrats in some races.

The November 3-5 NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error in the October 3-November 2 Post-ABC poll of 881 registered voters was 4 points.

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider