Democrats won control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress in the Nov. 3 midterms, while the Associated Press (AP) Voter Poll showed strong Democratic support among voters under 30 and Hispanic voters.
Among voters younger than 30, about seven in 10 backed the Democratic candidate in their local House race, while about three in 10 chose the Republican. Those voters made up about 10% of the electorate. In 2024, the group was roughly split between President Donald Trump and then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Roughly six in 10 Hispanic voters supported the Democratic House candidate, while about one in three chose the Republican. About 40% said they voted for Trump in 2024, and about 70% said his policies had worsened U.S. economic conditions. A prior EconoTimes report on Hispanic voters’ congressional preferences covered a separate pre-election survey.
The poll found that about four in 10 voters said opposition to Trump motivated their congressional vote; fewer than two in 10 wanted to show support for him. Another four in 10 said Trump played no role, while about 60% disapproved of his performance as president.
The economy was the leading issue for about 40% of voters, with democracy next at roughly 30%. Close to half said the cost of living and government corruption were crucial to their congressional choice. The poll records respondents’ views and choices, but does not establish that any one concern caused the election result.
SSRS conducted the AP Voter Poll for AP and six other news organizations through probability-based and nonprobability interviews with registered voters. Fieldwork ran Oct. 19-Nov. 3 in Alaska and Oct. 22-Nov. 3 elsewhere. The full-sample margin of sampling error was plus or minus 0.6 percentage points; the results page did not provide separate margins for demographic subgroups.
AP reported Nov. 4 that some individual races remained uncalled, although control of Congress had been decided. It said simultaneous midterm changes in control of both chambers had occurred in 1946, 1994 and 2006. “We remain very polarized, despite what happened in this election,” political scientist Alan Abramowitz of Emory University told AP.
