Polls & Research

Democrats Maintain Advantage in U.S. Election

- The Democratic Party is holding on to first place before next week's congressional election 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 38 per cent would vote for the Republican candidate.

Support for the Democrats dropped by one point since mid-October, while backing for the Republicans fell by three points. 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 with 49.2 per cent of the vote, while the Democratic Party secured 202 seats with 46.6 per cent. The Republicans also have a majority in the Senate, with 55 members in the 100-seat upper house.

On Oct. 28, U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney discussed the impending vote, saying, "If you look at my speeches throughout most of the campaign, I've focused on two major issues. One is the economy—tax policy—and the other has been the global war on terror. (...) If elections are about accountability, and people are going to judge government officials based on what they do while they're in office, it seems to me one of the key things you have to evaluate if you're a voter is what are the views of the candidates, the parties on how we manage the global war on terror, how we defend the nation against further 9/11s."

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?