Republicans trail Democrats by 12 points in battle for House: Poll

Republicans are behind Democrats by 12 points in the midterms battle for the House, according to a new survey.

In the Quinnipiac University poll, 51 percent of registered voter respondents said if it was Election Day that day, they wanted Democrats to lock down the majority in the House, while 39 percent said they wanted Republicans to capture the House. Nine percent did not respond or were unsure about who they wanted to take the reins of the lower chamber.

The Quinnipiac poll comes as Republicans face multiple issues heading into November, with President Trump’s approval rating slipping, the unpopular war in Iran stretching into its seventh month Monday and concerns about the economy becoming central to American political conversations.

According to a polling average from Decision Desk HQ, Trump’s approval rating was sitting at 37.7 percent Tuesday afternoon, with his disapproval rating at 60.2 percent.

Democrats have also been leading in recent polling in typical Republican strongholds like Iowa and Texas — a possible warning sign for Republicans as Election Day approaches. And Republicans already have a narrow margin in the House, with 218 members of the GOP in the lower chamber to Democrats’ 214, with one independent.

The Quinnipiac University poll also found 62 percent of respondents said they are against Trump’s handling of the economy, while 31 percent backed his economic job performance and 4 percent were either unsure about his performance on the issue or didn’t respond to the question.

In addition, 62 percent also said they were against Trump’s performance on foreign policy, while 32 percent disagreed and 4 percent were either unsure or didn’t answer the question.

The Quinnipiac Poll took place from Sept. 24-26, featuring 1,032 self-identified registered voters and plus or minus 3.8 percentage points as its margin of sampling error.