Registered voters who supported Democratic House candidates reported greater motivation to vote than Republican supporters in a Pew survey, as two national polls showed Democrats ahead on separate measures of House support.
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 6, “We are flipping races all over the place.” The Associated Press reported that Trump had made campaign stops intended to energize Republican voters, including an Oct. 19 rally for GOP candidates in Kansas.
The Pew Research Center interviewed 5,062 U.S. adults from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4; 3,917 were registered voters. Among registered voters supporting a Democratic House candidate, 63% said they were extremely motivated to vote. The figure was 46% among those supporting a Republican candidate. On whether they had given the election “a lot” of thought, the shares were 50% and 36%, respectively.
Asked about the president’s role in their congressional choice, 44% of registered voters described their vote as a rejection of Trump, while 19% described it as support for him. Pew’s separate House-candidate preference measure had Democrats at 44% and Republicans at 36%; 15% were unsure.
Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,032 registered voters from Sept. 24 to 27. In response to a question about control of the House, 51% wanted Democrats to hold it and 39% wanted Republicans to do so. The poll’s margin of error was 3.8 percentage points.
Pew found that 84% of registered voters considered the economy very important to their congressional vote. The center also reported rising concern about economic conditions and prices, particularly gasoline and energy.
The polls describe voter preferences and engagement, but do not establish whether Trump’s appearances affected turnout intentions or individual races. Voters will decide the contests on Nov. 3.
