Democrats appear to be more enthusiastic than Republicans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, following their party’s victories in recent state and local races, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The poll, which showed Republican President Donald Trump’s approval stable at 40%, found that 44% of registered voters who identified as Democrats were “very enthusiastic” about voting in the Nov. 3, 2026 election, compared to 26% of Republicans who said the same. 79% of Democrats said they would regret it if they did not vote, compared to 68% of Republicans.
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be up for grabs next year, as will 35 seats in the 100-member Senate. Currently, Republicans control both houses of Congress.
Democrats have been largely dispirited since Trump won last year’s presidential election, but the party’s mood improved in the Nov. 4 elections, when they swept the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the mayor of New York City.
Voters in Democratic-majority California approved a measure to redraw congressional districts that is likely to favor the party. The state’s governor presented the measure as a way to counter Republican efforts to redraw districts in other states.
The midterm elections are still a year away, and both parties appear to be very evenly matched in many ways. When asked who they would vote for in the congressional elections if they were held today, 41% of registered voters said they would choose the Democratic candidate and 40% the Republican candidate, a margin that is within the poll’s margin of error of 3 percentage points.
We recommend: Latinos voted again for Democrats, after Trump’s historic advances
Cost of living is voters’ top concern
Everyday problems appear to be the main concern of voters, with 45% saying that the most important factor in deciding their vote will be the candidate’s stance on the cost of living. On this issue, 38% of registered voters said Democrats had a better plan, while 36% said Republicans were better.
Voters leaned Republican over Democrats (46% to 34%) when asked which party was better on immigration, but only 14% said it was the most important issue for next year’s elections. By comparison, 26% said the most important issue would be democratic values and norms, and voters overall favored Democrats on that issue (43% vs. 34%).
Trump’s approval rating remained at the lowest level since he began his term in January. His popularity has remained within one or two percentage points of its current level in all Reuters/Ipsos polls since mid-May. The percentage of people who disapprove of his management increased, going from 52% in a survey carried out between May 16 and 18 to 58% in the last one.
The president won last year’s election on a promise to address rising inflation that hurt his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. However, Americans give Trump an exceptionally low rating on how he has managed rising costs affecting American households, with 62% of the country disapproving of his handling of the cost of living. The pace of inflation has increased slightly since Trump took office in January, even as the labor market weakened.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which surveyed 1,200 American adults nationwide online, ended just before Congress voted to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This episode generated divisions within the Democratic Party, with eight Democratic senators who on Monday aligned themselves with the Republicans to unblock the situation regarding government financing.
Democrats’ doubts decrease
Compared to polls at the beginning of the year, there was a slight decrease in doubts among Democrats. The latest poll found that 39% of Democratic voters agreed with the statement that the party “has lost its way,” up from 49% in a survey conducted in August. Among Republicans, 22% said their party has lost its way, a percentage that barely changed from 19% in August.
The poll also found that Democrats had as favorable an opinion of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as they did of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, 67% to 65%, respectively.
With information from Reuters
Do you use Facebook more? Leave us a like to be informed
