2018 US Politics - Perceptions are Split Among Democrats and Republicans (October 3)

With just a little more than a month away from the midterm elections, the Democratic candidate (50%) is still the preferred choice over the Republican candidate (38%) in the generic congressional ballot question, which asks likely voters who they would vote for if the election for U.S. Congress were held today in their district.

This week, Trump’s approval rate is 43% among likely voters - virtually unchanged from last week’s rate of 45%. Partisanship is still largely evident as only 11% of Democrat likely voters versus 86% of Republican likely voters approve of the way Trump is handling his job as President.

Perceptions are split among Democrats and Republicans when it comes to whether the country is heading in the right direction or off on the wrong track. A total of 39% of likely voters who believe that the country is heading in the right direction, a much smaller fraction of Democrat likely voters (13%) than Republicans likely voters (75%) agree. Conversely, a much larger share of Democrat likely voters (81%) than Republicans likely voters (20%) believe that it is off on the wrong track. When asked what the most important problem facing the US today is, the top three choices amongst likely voters were healthcare (21%), the economy (14%) and immigration (13%).

These are findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Thomson Reuters between September 26-October 2, 2018. For the survey, a sample of 3,316 Americans, including 1,840 likely voters, 851 likely voter Democrats, 705 likely voter Republicans, and 230 likely voter Independents ages 18+ were interviewed online.