Democrats favored over Republicans on health care, immigration, economy: Survey

Democrats are ahead of Republicans on some of the issues most important to voters —immigration, health care and the economy—according to a new poll.

In the New York Times/Siena University poll , 51 percent of likely voter respondents said they trusted Democrats to excel in their work on the economy over Republicans, while 45 percent said the same of Republicans in comparison to Democrats and 4 percent were unsure or did not answer the question.

When it came to the topic of immigration, 52 percent of respondents backed Democrats’ performance over Republicans, while 45 percent backed Republicans over Democrats and 3 percent were unsure or did not answer the question.

And when it came to health care, 60 percent of respondents backed Democrats’ performance over Republicans, while 36 percent backed Republicans over Democrats and 5 percent were unsure or did not answer the question.

The Times/Siena poll spells trouble for Republicans as the midterms elections are only a few weeks out. The party is already dealing with issues like President Trump’s slumping approval rating, the unpopular war in Iran that is nearing its seventh month and Democrats recently excelling on the generic congressional ballot.

According to a polling average from Decision Desk HQ, Trump’s approval rating was sitting at 39.5 percent as of late Tuesday afternoon, while his disapproval rating was at 58.2 percent.

However, a top political adviser to Trump recently said he was “cautiously optimistic” that Republicans can hold onto Congress.

“I won’t predict, you know, how many seats are going to be in either chamber come November,” James Blair told NBC News’s podcast, “Here’s the Scoop: Election Edition.” “But, I do think there is a path for us to retain both majorities and defy history.”

The Times/Siena poll took place between Sept. 8 and 13, featuring 1,503 likely voters and a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.