Republicans have increased their lead to seven points over Democrats on a generic ballot, according to the most recent Fox News poll.
If the midterm elections were held today, 46 percent of voters would support the Republican candidate compared to just 39 percent for the Democrat candidate in their congressional district.
With a seven-point advantage, Republicans have increased their lead by two points since the last Fox News poll, conducted last month. This advantage is the largest Republicans have held this year and would likely result in a 44-seat swing in the House and an 11-seat swing in the U.S. Senate, according to Fox News.
Fox News Republican pollster Daron Shaw said this seven-point lead could result in a “wave” election for the GOP. Shaw said:
The congressional ballot numbers are highly correlated with changes in the partisan distribution of seats. They may bounce around quite a bit in the next few months, but if we see a 7-point Republican advantage in the national vote this fall, we’re going to see a wave election for the GOP.
The Republican advantage is likely due to how voters feel about President Joe Biden’s economy. The economy is atop the list of 14 issues voters are concerned about, with 87 percent extremely or very concerned about inflation. Among the voters who are “extremely” concerned about inflation, Republicans lead Democrats by 23 points. Unsurprisingly, inflation is the issue on which Democrats disapprove of Biden at the highest rates. More than one-third of Democrats, 38 percent, disapprove of Biden on inflation.
Additionally, a massive 77 percent of voters say the economy is in negative shape, with a majority of Republicans, independents, and Democrats agreeing on this issue. The 21 percent who rate the economy positively is the lowest number since May 2020.
The poll found that 44 percent of voters believe they are worse off financially than they were two years ago under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Biden and the Democrats are unlikely to make any strides with voters on the economy before November’s midterms because 65 percent of voters think inflation will continue to be a major issue for at least another year.
With voters still paying near record-high gas prices at the pump, more voters blame the current prices on government regulations and Biden’s policies than they do on Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the Biden administration blames for the increase in prices.
As Fox News reported:
More voters blame current gas prices on government regulations (77%) than say domestic oil companies (71%), the policies of the Biden administration (70%) or the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin (66%) are responsible.
The poll also found that more voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing than approve. Overall, 53 percent of voters disapprove of Biden’s job performance, compared to just 45 percent who approve.
The Democrat firm, Beacon Research, and Republican firm, Shaw & Company Research, jointly conducted the poll of 1,003 registered voters nationwide from April 28 to May 1. The poll has a margin of error of ± three percent.
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