USAupdated 1h ago3 min read
New York Times and Siena College Poll Finds Democrats Leading in All Seven U.S. Senate Battleground States
“Democrats could actually absorb a modest-sized polling error and perhaps still prevail”
“A 2- or 3-point polling lead in any of these improbable states is within the margin of standard polling error.”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Democrats lead in all seven NYT/Siena battleground Senate races. The poll shows Democratic leads in Texas and Kansas among battlegrounds.
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Polls, seats, and battlegrounds
A New York Times and Siena College poll found Democrats leading in all seven key battleground states in the race to regain a majority in the U.S. Senate one day before the midterm elections.
The poll showed Democrats’ largest margin in Michigan at 11 percentage points, followed by Texas at 7 points, Maine and Ohio at 6 points each, and Kansas at 5 points, while Iowa and Alaska were each decided by a 1 point margin.
The poll also said Democrats must hold all their existing seats while flipping at least four Republican-held seats to win a Senate majority, and it described the races as extremely close in Iowa and Alaska.
The poll put the biggest factor on the economy, with the article saying Trump’s job approval rating stood at just 38% across the seven states surveyed.
Democrats had a 9-point advantage over Republicans on voter confidence about the cost of living, and Democrats led on that issue in all seven states included in the survey.
Michigan’s El-Sayed and Rogers
Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate bid was framed as a potential historic first for the Democratic Party, with the article saying he would become the first Muslim American senator if he wins the midterms in Michigan.
El-Sayed faced a tight head-to-head against former FBI agent Mike Rogers, and Haley Stevens announced her backing for the Republican candidate two days before the election.
Barack Obama came to support El-Sayed last week, and it quoted Obama asking, "People accuse Abdul of being a radical. But what is radical about wanting everyone to be able to get medical care?"
The article also said El-Sayed received one final dagger from his own camp, and it reported that Stevens’s backing followed her defeat in the Democratic primary.
The Michigan race remained central to the Senate map, with the poll described in another account showing El-Sayed leading Mike Rogers 53% to 42% among likely voters.
What control could change
The midterm outcome was presented as a test of political support for Donald Trump that could alter the balance of power in Washington, with the article saying the House of Representatives, the Senate, and several governorships are at stake. The elections would measure the impact of the war with Iran, the cost of living, and the immigration policy pushed by the magnate, and a possible loss of congressional control by the Republicans would leave the president with limited room to maneuver during the remaining two years of his time at the White House. The article also stated that the Senate has exclusive powers, including confirming presidential appointments to the cabinet, embassies and federal courts, including Supreme Court justices, and ratifying international treaties.
The article said the House has 435 seats up for election and that Republicans currently hold 218 seats to 214 Democrats, while Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to regain control. The article concluded that controlling the Senate would be fundamental because it participates in the passage of laws and the federal budget, and it said it can determine the direction of a government through its exclusive powers.