Poll: Dems lead by 16 points on generic ballot

Democrats hold a 16-point lead over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot, according to a new poll from CNN.

The poll conducted by SSRS finds 54 percent of registered voters would support a Democrat in their congressional district, compared with 38 percent who say they would favor a Republican candidate.

In a CNN poll taken last month, Democrats held just a 5-point lead over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot.

The CNN poll is at the high end when it comes to the Democratic advantage in the generic ballot.

{mosads}A Marist poll released this month found Democrats with a seven-point lead, while a Harvard/Harris Poll survey released last week found them with a five-point lead. A Quinnipiac poll released last week also found Democrats with a 15-point lead. 

In another good sign for Democrats hoping to regain the House in this fall’s midterm elections, the CNN poll finds that a majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting.

Forty-one percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning independents feel the same way, the poll finds.

According to the poll, 49 percent of voters say gun policy is an extremely important issue to them heading into the 2018 midterm elections.

Forty-five percent of respondents say they would be less likely to back a candidate who has received funding from the National Rifle Association (NRA), compared with 14 percent who say they would be more likely to support a candidate who had accepted a donation from the NRA.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 20 to 23 among 1,016 adults and 909 registered voters. The margin of error for the full sample is 3.7 percentage points.

According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Democrats hold a narrower 8.5-point lead over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot.