Republicans 'in position to win' US midterm elections, says new Gallup poll - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Republicans hold a significant lead among likely voters on a generic congressional ballot heading into the last week of the campaign for the forthcoming US midterm elections, according to a new Gallup Poll. Gallup's model of a high-turnout scenario- where more than 40 per cent of the electorate votes- shows Republicans leading 52 per cent to 43 per cent, Politico reported. However, if less than 40 per cent of voters turn out, the GOP lead jumps to 14 points, 55 percent to 41 percent. According to the data, Republicans remain "in position to win control of the House of Representatives in next week's midterm elections," Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport said. "Republicans have held the upper hand all year in terms of enthusiasm and turnout, giving their candidates clear advantages among likely voters," Newport maintained. "Democrats appear to have closed that gap a little, particularly when the last four days of Gallup's interviewing are taken into account, and are thus doing slightly better in Gallup's voting estimates," he added. The poll shows Democrats trailing Republicans by only 4 percentage points among the registered voters. The data were based on two polls conducted October 14-17 and October 21-24. For the registered voter sample, 2,746 registered voters were surveyed, with an error margin of +/- 2 per cent. Gallup surveyed 1,989 likely voters, the sample for which comes with an error margin of +/- 3 per cent.