Newsweek Says 55% of U.S. Public Plans to Vote for Democrats

By Neil Roland
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- By a 55-to-37 percent margin, Americans who say they are likely to vote in the Nov. 7 elections plan to cast their ballots for Democratic candidates, according to a new Newsweek poll.

The Democrats have gained among both white Catholics and white evangelicals in the last two years, the poll released today showed. Among independents, 44 percent favor the Democrat in their district while 34 percent prefer the Republican candidate.

Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to win control of the House and six to gain control of the Senate. While President George W. Bush has predicted that the Republicans will keep their congressional majorities, former House Majority Leader Richard Armey, a Texas Republican, said yesterday that Democrats may gain a majority of 10 seats in the House.

In the Newsweek poll, Bush's approval rating is at 35 percent, with 57 percent of Americans saying they disapprove of his performance. In an all-time low in the survey, 65 percent of Americans said the U.S. is losing ground in efforts to build security and democracy in Iraq.
A majority of respondents -- 56 percent, including 23 percent of Republicans -- said they believe Bush won't be able to achieve much for the rest of his second term.

The poll showed that 60 percent of white evangelicals plan to vote for a Republican candidate, and 31 percent for a Democrat. Exit polls after the 2004 elections found that 74 percent of white evangelicals voted for Republicans, while 25 percent voted for Democrats, Newsweek said.
In today's poll, Democrats received the support of 44 percent of white Catholics, while 42 percent said the planned to vote for Republicans. Catholics overwhelmingly supported Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

Asked to name the issue that is most important to their vote, 31 percent of respondents cited Iraq, 18 percent said the economy and 16 percent said health care.

Princeton Survey Research Associates International, which conducted the survey, interviewed 1,000 adults aged 18 and older on Oct. 19-20. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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