Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Oct 19: With 16 days remaining before the November 3 midterm elections, opinion polls released on Sunday indicated a challenging political climate for US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party, with Democrats favoured to win control of the House of Representatives and the Senate race remaining competitive.
An NBC News Decision Desk poll of registered voters put Trump’s approval rating at 39 per cent, the network’s chief data analyst Steve Kornacki said on ‘Meet the Press’.
Highlighting the findings, Kornacki said Democrats held a nine-point advantage in the poll’s generic congressional ballot, which measures voter preference for the two parties in congressional elections.
The programme’s anchor also noted that The Cook Political Report had shifted 11 additional House races in favour of Democrats.
On CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’, an anchor said the network’s estimates gave Democrats an advantage in the race to control the House, while Republicans and Democrats were also locked in a competitive battle for the Senate, where Democrats need to gain four seats to secure a majority.
A new CBS News/YouGov poll in Texas showed the Senate contest between Democratic candidate James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton virtually tied, with Talarico leading 51 per cent to 49 per cent.
“What you have got here in the matchup between Talarico and Paxton, our new poll shows this really as tight as can be, Margaret, at 51-49,” said Anthony Salvanto, CBS News’ executive director of elections and surveys.
Salvanto said Talarico was performing better among independent voters and those facing financial difficulties because of rising prices. The poll surveyed 1,492 registered voters between October 8 and 16.
He also cautioned that Democrats faced difficult contests in states where they were defending their existing Senate seats.
In Michigan, the race was considered a toss-up, while Republican Senator Susan Collins was involved in a similarly close contest in Maine, Salvanto said.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who has campaigned in South Carolina, Mississippi and North Carolina, argued that his party needed to invest more resources in the southern states to improve its chances of securing congressional majorities.
“Democrats can absolutely win in these states. In fact, the road to a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress is in the South,” Warnock said on ‘Meet the Press’.
He also called for changes in the administration’s policies, saying, “We have to end this war, stop the tariffs, fix health care.”
Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma urged voters to participate in the elections, acknowledging the uncertainty surrounding the outcome.
“Only God knows what actually will happen. But every single voter needs to show up to actually vote,” he said.
Meanwhile, on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’, an anchor cited a Washington Post poll indicating that 58 per cent of respondents wanted Democrats to act as a check on Trump.
Control of the Senate is expected to have significant implications for congressional oversight of the administration’s policies on tariffs and sanctions, including the proposed Graham Act targeting buyers of Russian oil. Several Republicans have criticised Trump for waiving the measure’s provisions.