Poll: Dems up 12 points ahead of midterms

Democrats hold a 12-point lead over Republicans just over six weeks ahead of the midterm congressional elections, according to a new poll.

Slightly more than half of registered voters — 52 percent — said in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday that they preferred a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared to 40 percent who want Republicans to retain their majorities in the House and Senate.

{mosads}NBC News noted that the Democrats’ 12-point lead is their highest this cycle in that poll. In August, they held an 8-point lead, 50 percent to 42 percent.

Voters who are most likely to vote favor Democrats by 8 points in the new survey, 51 to 43 percent.

Pollsters also found that Republicans’ enthusiasm has drawn nearly even with Democrats, with “very interested” registered GOP voters tallying 61 percent compared to Democrats’ 65 percent in the poll.

And President Trump’s job rating is essentially unchanged in the new survey, with 44 percent approving of his performance and 52 percent disapproving.

The poll of 900 voters, conducted between Sept. 16-19, has margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. The margin of error for the 594 likely voters is 4 points.

Democrats have a nearly 8-point lead over Republicans in recent polling, according to a RealClearPolitics average.