Over half of surveyed voters in a new poll would like to see Democrats take control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.
According to the last NBC poll ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, 52% of Americans want to see a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 45% want to see a Republican-controlled Congress. The margin increased by 2 points since the outlet’s last poll in early September, when 50% of those polled supported Democratic control, and 45% supported Republican control.
NBC’s Steve Kornacki compared this to the final NBC poll ahead of the 2018 elections, when 49% of surveyed voters supported Democratic control, and 43% of surveyed voters supported Republican control. In the midterm elections during President Donald Trump’s first term, Democrats flipped the House with a double-digit gain of seats, but Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate.
The final 2026 poll, conducted from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30, tallied that 51% of polled voters said they were dissatisfied with their personal financial situation, while 49% said they were satisfied. According to the outlet, this is the first time in the poll’s history since 2007 that more respondents were dissatisfied than satisfied with their personal financial situation.
The poll also showed Trump’s approval rating at 40%, which was 6 percentage points lower than his final 46% approval rating ahead of the 2018 elections. Trump’s disapproval rating stood at 60%, compared to his 52% approval rating in the final 2018 poll.
Kornacki pointed out that in 2018, the state of the economy was Trump’s “strong suit,” noting that ahead of the midterm elections in Trump’s first term, 68% of voters were satisfied with the state of the economy while 29% were dissatisfied. Now, with the 2026 final poll, those numbers are nearly flipped: 26% of polled voters said they are satisfied with the state of the economy, while 73% said they were dissatisfied.
AMERICANS TURN AGAINST SOCIALISM IN LAST MONTHS BEFORE MIDTERM ELECTION: POLL
Affordability has largely been the word of the 2026 elections, with candidates up and down the ballot emphasizing how they can lower the cost of living. Polls throughout the year have largely shown the war in Iran as unpopular, with Democrats hammering the war’s effect on fuel prices. Republican candidates, meanwhile, have pointed to the tax breaks and helpful economic factors of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in their affordability pitch to voters.
The poll, released just two days before voters hit the polls, had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.