Poll: Dems have 7 point lead on generic House ballot

Democrats hold a 7-point lead over Republicans with less than two weeks until the midterms in the generic congressional ballot, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

The Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters found among likely voters, 49 percent said they would support the Democratic candidate in their district compared to 42 percent who said they will back the Republican.

{mosads}Among likely independent voters, Democrats hold a 5-point lead in the generic ballot with 32 percent of those surveyed saying they would vote for the Democrat.

Of respondents that identified as likely voters, 52 percent said they think the country is headed down the wrong track, while 43 percent said they think it is heading in the right direction.

Respondents overwhelmingly disapproved of how Congress is operating as a whole, but only 34 percent of respondents disapproved of how their representative is performing, with 43 percent approving.

Wednesday’s poll shows Democrats advantage on par with the RealClearPolitics average of major polls, which shows the party with a 7.2 point lead.

Republicans are attempting to stave off a Democratic effort to retake control of the House. Democrats need to pick up 23 seats in the House to reclaim the majority.

Political handicapper FiveThirtyEight gives the Democrats an 83.5 percent chance of taking back control of the House.

The survey sampled 3,867 Americans, of which 2,062 are likely voters. The survey was conducted online from Oct. 17-23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.