GOP, Democrats neck and neck on generic congressional ballot: Survey

Republicans and Democrats are neck and neck on a generic congressional ballot, according to poll results released Monday by Decision Desk HQ/NewsNation.

About 44 percent of registered voters said they would vote for a Republican candidate “if the election for the U.S. Congress” in their district were held that day, and nearly 43 percent of registered voters said they would vote for a Democratic candidate under the same circumstances.

The poll results come as Congress faces turmoil over spending bills; Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Friday about support for bills from the House Freedom Caucus.

“Don’t assume you have our votes for the things that don’t matter, when you don’t want ‘em for things that do matter,” the Freedom Caucus chair said during an interview Friday with host Blake Burman on “The Hill on NewsNation”.

The House passed a stopgap funding bill Thursday after Johnson worked out a deal with other legislative leaders to avoid a partial government shutdown. However, Johnson had to count on Democratic support in the House to pass the legislation.

President Biden signed the bill Friday, meaning the government will stay open through March.

The House Freedom Caucus already expressed its displeasure with the bill last Sunday, calling it a “surrender” to the left on social media.

“The @HouseGOP is planning to pass a short-term spending bill continuing Pelosi levels with Biden policies, to buy time to pass longer-term spending bills at Pelosi levels with Biden policies. This is what surrender looks like,” the caucus posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The poll also asked if voters were “confident” about whether “Democrats and Republicans in Congress will be able to work together in a bipartisan way to pass legislation” when it comes to the next year. Only 22 percent responded that they are either “very confident” or “somewhat confident” that the two parties in Congress could do so.

The poll, conducted Jan. 16-18, surveyed 1,000 registered voters. The margin of error for the questions about a generic ballot and bipartisan work in Congress is around 3.1 percent.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.