Democrats have a staggering 14-point lead against Republicans on the 2026 congressional generic ballot, despite the Democratic Party receiving a low confidence rating among voters, according to a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released Wednesday.
A majority of registered voters — 55% — said they would plan to support the Democratic congressional candidate in their district if the 2026 midterm elections were held today, according to the newly released poll. Meanwhile, 41% of respondents said they would support the GOP candidate for Congress, while just 3% would back a candidate from neither of the major parties.
Among independents, the Democratic candidates secured a +33-point advantage over the Republicans, the poll showed. This is the first time in over three years that the Democratic Party has had a notable advantage on the congressional generic ballot question, according to the Marist poll.
However, the Democratic Party gained the confidence of just 29% of registered voters, the same poll shows. Meanwhile, 71% of respondents said they had “not very much” or “no confidence at all” in the party, according to the survey.
Moreover, 35% of voters said they have either a “great deal” or “quite a lot of confidence” in the Republican Party, while 65% said they have “not very much” or “no confidence at all” in them, according to the poll.
Additionally, just 20% of U.S. voters said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress as a whole, while 80% said they had “not very much” or “no confidence at all” in the legislative branch of the U.S. government, according to the poll.
The Democratic Party notably notched several electoral victories in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia on Nov. 4. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin — who had previously said his job makes him want to pull his own hair out — wrote in a Nov. 5 post to X that the Democrats’ recent election victories were “a testament to what our party can do when we come together, reconnect with voters, and organize.”
Though, House Republicans have recently been lauding a fundraising advantage over their Democratic counterparts, as the GOP looks to maintain control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 election cycle. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House Republicans’ campaign arm, expressed optimism earlier in November about the GOP’s prospects of maintaining control of the lower chamber of Congress in the upcoming midterms, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.
The NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll survey of 1,443 U.S. adults was conducted from Nov. 10-13, by the Marist Poll in partnership with NPR and PBS News. U.S. adults were contacted through a multi-mode design: By phone using live interviewers, by text, or online. Results for all adults (n=1,443) are statistically significant within plus or minus 3.0 percentage points.
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