US Democrats lead by 9 points as Senate map widens into South

Washington, Oct 19 (IANS) With 16 days to go before the November 3 midterm elections, network polls released on the Sunday shows pointed to a difficult climate for President Donald Trump’s Republicans, with Democrats favoured for the House and the Senate in play.

An NBC News Decision Desk poll of registered voters put Trump’s approval at 39 per cent, NBC’s chief data analyst Steve Kornacki said on Meet the Press.

“But 39 per cent here, the approval rating,” Kornacki said. On the generic ballot, he said: “The advantage in this Decision Desk poll here for Democrats is nine points there.”

The anchor said “The Cook Political Report has moved 11 more House races toward Democrats.”

On CBS’s Face the Nation, another anchor said “CBS estimates Democrats have the edge to take the House. They need four seats to take the Senate.”

A new CBS News/YouGov poll in Texas showed the Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton at 51-49.

“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.

He said Talarico was doing better with independents and with voters hurting financially because of prices. The poll of 1,492 registered voters was conducted October 8-16.

Salvanto said Democrats also had to defend their own seats. “So, Michigan, this is a toss-up. They’d have to hold up,” he said, adding that in Maine, Republican Senator Susan Collins was in a race that is “neck-and-neck too, and that’s a toss-up”.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who has campaigned in South Carolina, Mississippi and North Carolina, said the party should invest in the region.

“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.

“We have to end this war, stop the tariffs, fix health care,” he said.

Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma urged turnout. “Only God knows what actually will happen. But every single voter needs to show up to actually vote,” he said.

On CNN’s State of the Union, another anchor cited a Washington Post poll: “Fifty-eight percent say Democrats to check Trump”.

Control of the Senate will shape oversight of Trump’s tariffs and sanctions policy, including the Graham Act on buyers of Russian oil, which several Republicans criticised Trump for waiving.

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