Democrats top Republicans by 11 points for House control: Survey

Voters would rather see Democrats take control of the House than Republicans keep their majority in the lower chamber in November’s elections, according to a new survey.

The Quinnipiac University poll found respondents preferred Democrats to win over Republicans by 11 points. If the midterms were held today, 49 percent of survey respondents said they would support Democrats, compared with the 38 percent who would back the GOP.

Another 13 percent of respondents were unsure or gave no response, the survey shows.

That gap grew by 4 points since July, when the pollster asked a similar question . That survey found 48 percent of voters wanted to see the Democratic Party win control of the House, while 41 percent chose the Republican Party and 11 percent did not offer an opinion.

When asked about which political party they think is “more in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States,” 46 percent of voters chose Democrats, 35 percent picked Republicans and 13 percent said there is no difference, the poll found.

The results follow a push from the Democratic Party to flip at least five House seats in the midterms. The GOP currently holds a slim majority, with 218 members to Democrats’ 214.

President Trump, in his remarks during the Republican National Committee’s first-ever midterm convention , advised GOP voters to “pretend like I’m on the ballot” and even promised to give $5,000 to every U.S. adult if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate.

It’s unclear how the president would be able to implement such a move given it would cost the government roughly $1.35 trillion and has faced backlash from GOP lawmakers.

The shift comes after the election handicapper Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), a partner of The Hill, adjusted its Senate odds slightly back in Republicans’ favor on Thursday, giving the GOP a 51 percent chance of keeping their majority in the upper chamber.

“The national environment is more favorable for Democrats, and then on top of that, you have polling data showing that a lot of the sort of must-win or must-compete-in Senate races for Democrats are pretty 50-50 now,” Geoffrey Skelley, chief elections analyst at DDHQ, said.

This is also down from DDHQ’s forecast of Republicans having a 60 percent chance of retaining the upper chamber just two months ago.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted from Sept. 3-6 among 970 self-identified registered voters nationwide. The margin of error is 3.9 percentage points.