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Democrats Regain Large Lead in U.S.

October 03, 2006

- The Democratic Party is holding on to the lead before next month's congressional ballot in the United States, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 49 per cent of respondents would support the Democratic contender in their district, while 31 per cent would vote for the Republican candidate.

Support for the Democrats increased by eight points since mid-September, while backing for the Republicans fell by seven points. 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 Sept. 29, Republican Florida congressman Mark Foley resigned from the House of Representatives after several suggestive e-mails and text messages he sent to former congressional pages were made public. The legislative branch's Republican leadership called the situation "unacceptable and abhorrent."

Foley acted as the co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.

Polling Data

Thinking ahead to this November's elections, if the congressional election were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate in your district or the Republican candidate in your district?

Sept. 27

Sept. 13

Aug. 29

Democrat

49%

41%

48%

Republican

31%

38%

32%

Other / Not sure

14%

21%

20%

Source: Opinion Dynamics / Fox News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 900 American likely voters, conducted on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.