More Americans want GOP rather than Democrats to control House and Senate: poll

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With just under a year to go until the 2022 midterms, a new poll indicates that a plurality of Americans say they would like to see Republicans win control of both chambers of Congress in next year's elections.

The national survey, released on Thursday by Quinnipiac University, indicates President Biden dropping to his lowest level of public support since taking over in the White House in January. And the poll also indicates that more than two-thirds of Americans are changing their spending habits due to rising prices.

Democrats will be defending their razor-thin House of Representatives and Senate majorities in next year's midterms, when the entire 435-member House and one-third of 100-member Senate are up for grabs.

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By a 46%-38% margin, those questioned in the poll said they would want to see the Republican Party win control of the House if the midterms were held today, with 16% not offering an opinion. And by a 46%-40% margin, those surveyed said they'd like to see the GOP win the Senate majority, with 15% not offering an opinion.

"An ominous double whammy for the Democrats with midterms less than a year out. The Senate and the House will be up for grabs and voters want the GOP to win the jump ball," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy emphasized.

The release of the poll, which was conducted Nov. 11-Nov.15, comes less than a week after an ABC News/Washington Post survey that grabbed national headlines as it indicated that Republicans had a 10-point advantage over the Democrats on the generic ballot question. 

The generic ballot question asks whether a respondent would vote for a unnamed Democrat or Republican candidate in their congressional district. It was the largest lead for the GOP in the 40 years ABC News and The Washington Post have been asking the generic ballot question.

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The Republicans controlled the House for eight years, but lost the majority as the Democrats convincingly recaptured the chamber in the 2018 midterms. The GOP lost control of the Senate after being swept by the Democrats in January's twin runoff elections in Georgia.

Contributing to the deteriorating numbers for congressional Democrats is Biden’s flagging approval. The president’s approval rating stood at 36% and disapproval at 53% in the new Quinnipiac poll. Biden's approval edged down one point from Quinnipiac polling a month ago, and it's his lowest mark in their surveys since succeeding former President Trump in the White House.

The president received his lowest grades to date in the new poll on four key issues. Biden stood at 45% approval and 50% disapproval on combating the coronavirus pandemic, 41%-48% on climate change, 34%-59% on dealing with the economy, and 33%-55% on handling foreign policy.

Biden speaks during a visit to the NH 175 bridge over the Pemigewasset River to promote infrastructure spending Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, in Woodstock, New Hampshire.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The president stood at 49% approval and 51% disapproval in a separate national poll from Marquette University Law School that was also released on Thursday. Biden’s approval in the survey, conducted Nov. 1-Nov. 10, was down nine points from Marquette’s last poll, from July.

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Biden stands at 41% approval and 53% disapproval in an average of all the latest public opinion surveys compiled by Real Clear Politics.

While the president’s standing among Americans continues to deteriorate, the Quinnipiac poll indicates his agenda remains popular.

By a 57%-37% margin, Americans gave a thumbs up to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law on Monday. The measure, which enjoyed bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, is the largest investment in the nation's crumbling roads and bridges in decades.

And a majority (58%-38%) also said they support the nearly $2 trillion social spending and climate change measure congressional Democrats are trying to pass along party lines.

The Quinnipiac poll is the latest survey to indicate majority support for both measures, which are key parts of the president’s domestic agenda that he spotlighted during the 2020 campaign.

But the new poll also indicates that 61% say the nation’s economy is getting worse, with seven in 10 saying increased prices for things such as food and gasoline have caused them to change their spending habits. 

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The poll also indicates that a slight majority (52%-46%) opposed the federal government’s mandate that businesses with 100 or more employees require their employees to get the COVID vaccine or take weekly tests if they’re not fully vaccinated. But 57% said that employees who are not fully vaccinated who work on-site with other people should be required to wear masks.

The Quinnipiac University Poll questioned 1,376 adults nationwide and had a overall sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.