Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
- 2008: Race for the White House
- 2008: The U.S. Electoral College
- Abortion
- Africa
- Angela Merkel
- Death Penalty
- Economy and Globalization
- Environment
- European Union
- George W. Bush
- Global Warming
- Gordon Brown
- Hamas
- Immigration
- Iran
- Iraq War
- Kevin Rudd
- Latin America
- New Zealand Election 2008
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- North Korea
- Oil and Gas
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Silvio Berlusconi
- Stem Cell Research
- Stephen Harper
- Terrorism
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Democrats
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Republicans
- U.S. Election 2008: The Primaries
- Vladimir Putin
- Yasuo Fukuda
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Democrats Gain a Point, GOP Stable in U.S.
- The Democratic Party is holding on to the top spot in the United States, according to a poll by Opinion Research Corporation released by CNN. 53 per cent of respondents would vote for the Democratic candidate in their congressional district, while 43 per cent would support the Republican contender.
Support for the Democrats increased by one point since late August, while backing for the Republicans remained stable. American voters will renew the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate on Nov. 7.
In the November 2004 congressional ballot, the Republican Party elected 232 lawmakers to the United States House of Representatives, while the Democratic Party secured 202 seats. The Republicans also have a majority in the Senate, with 55 members in the 100-seat upper house.
On Aug. 24, Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Ken Mehlman discussed the situation in Iraq, saying, "There wasn't a history with Vietnam the way that there is in Iraq, where, when we pulled out of Lebanon and we pulled out of Mogadishu, it was used by (Osama) bin Laden and others to recruit more jihadists and encourage more danger. The fact is, the situation in Iraq is much more critical to American national security, which is why we cannot allow it to fail. We have to win this war."
Yesterday, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Howard Dean expressed his views on the issue, saying, "The Bush White House and its Republican rubber-stamp Congress have limited our ability to fight and win the war on terror because of our involvement in a civil war in Iraq. For what we spend in one week in Iraq, we could be securing our ports, airports and borders."
Polling Data
If the elections for Congress were being held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your Congressional district? As of today, do you lean more toward?
(Registered Voters)
Sept. 2 | Aug. 20 | Aug. 3 | |
Democrat | 53% | 52% | 53% |
Republican | 43% | 43% | 40% |
Other / Not sure | 4% | 5% | 7% |
Source: Opinion Research Corporation / CNN
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,004 American adults, conducted from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.