As voters in several states go to the polls today, a new Fabrizio McLaughlin national poll of likely voters finds treacherous ground for incumbents. 59% of voters feel the nation has “gotten off on the wrong track.” (Only 31% felt the country was heading in the right direction.) The GOP leads the generic ballot test for both House and Senate by seven points (42-35 in both) Republicans in Congress, though, have slightly lower approval ratings than Democrats. The findings show more a shift away from Democrats than a move towards the GOP.
When asked to name their top issue, 50% of likely voters names the economy or employment/jobs. Health care was the top issue for 27% while 13% listed government spending and deficits.
Likely voters split on both their personal opinion of President Obama and his job performance. 41% of likely voters had a favorable opinion of President Obama and the same number had an unfavorable opinion. 48% approved of his job performance and the same number disapproved. 38% approved the job Democrats were doing in Congress (57% disapproved) while only 33% approved of the job Republicans were doing in Congress (58% disapproved).
The poll also finds very strong headwinds for the health care reform legislation currently under consideration. The poll asked the following question, which was recently tested by the Washington Post:
Would you favor or oppose having the government create a new health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans?
Total Favor: 45%
Total Oppose: 48%
The poll then asked:
Based on what you know, do you favor or oppose President Obama’s health care reform plan?
Total Favor: 39%
Total Oppose: 51%
The poll was conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates. It was conducted October 27-29 of 1,000 voters who said they were likely to vote in 2010.
The poll asked many more questions on the health reform proposals. Check back later today for those results. Also, the poll added an oversample of 400 likely voters in BOTH the 13 Senate and 47 House races ranked most competitive by the Cook Report. Results in those are interesting. Check back for those and the full top-line results as well.
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