Half of voters would prefer Democrats to take control of Congress after the midterm elections in 2018, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
The poll, released Sunday, showed 50 percent of voters prefer Democrats to lead Congress, while 39 percent said Republicans.
Democrats grew their lead from a 7-point advantage in October. It’s the first time the party has had a double-digit lead since 2008, when former President Barack Obama won his first presidential election.
The Wall Street Journal noted “a Democratic advantage on the question of who should control Congress hasn’t translated into electoral gains unless the lead reached double digits.”
Democrats need to pick up 24 House seats to become the majority. In the Senate, Democrats only need a net gain of two seats after Democratic candidate Doug Moore won the Alabama Senate election last week.
The poll also found that 18- to 34-year-olds prefer Democrats to control Congress by a 48-point margin. Among young adults, 69 percent favor a Democratic led-Congress, while 21 percent would prefer Republican control.
The poll surveyed 900 adults, of which 736 were registered voters, from Dec. 13-15. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 3.27 percent among all adults and 3.61 percent among registered voters.
