New Poll Shows GOP Poised to Benefit from Bigger ‘Wave’ Than 1994, 2010
A new USA Today/Pew Research Center survey of the nationwide electorate released on Monday found that Democrats are facing significant headwinds in the effort to maintain their control of the upper chamber of Congress.
The latest survey found registered voters are far more inclined to support a generic Republican candidate in November over a Democratic candidate. Republicans lead Democrats in the “generic congressional ballot” by 4 points, with 47 percent support to Democrats’ 43 percent support.
The margin may seem small, but USA Today characterized the lead as the GOP’s “strongest tilt to Republicans” in 20 years. They added that it is a larger pro-GOP lead than those which preceded the “wave” midterm elections in 2010 and 1994.
“In 1994, when the GOP would gain control of the House and Senate, Democrats held a 2-point advantage in the spring of the election year,” USA Today reported on Monday. “In 2010, when Republicans would win back the House, the two sides were even.”
65 percent of voters say that they prefer President Barack Obama’s successor to pursue policies that deviate from his own, compared to only 30 percent of respondents who say they hope the next president pursues a legislative agenda similar to Obama’s.
Obama gets higher marks from voters in his job approval rating than President George W. Bush did at this point in his presidency in 2006, with 44 percent approving of the job he is doing in office and 50 percent disapproving. Support for his signature legislative accomplishment, however, remains low.
RELATED: NPR Poll Finds Obamacare Woes Portend GOP ‘Midterm Wave’
Only 41 percent approve of the Affordable Care Act compared with 55 percent who disapprove of the law. That is consistent with the poll’s findings last month, when 37 percent approved of the law and 50 percent disapproved. That indicates that Obama’s announcement this month in which he touted that 8 million plus had enrolled in the law and it was beating enrollment expectations had virtually no impact on the public’s view of the ACA.
Finally, voters in the latest USA Today/Pew survey also expressed apprehensions about the state of the economy. In spite of economists’ claims that the country’s economic strength is recovering, only 17 percent of voters rate the nation’s economic conditions as “good” or “excellent” with 40 percent disagreeing. That, too, is virtually unchanged from nearly one year ago.
This survey was conducted from April 23 to 27 of 1,501 adults and 1,162 registered voters. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percent.
[Image via Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]
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