Republicans Post Eight-Point Lead On Generic Ballot

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Republican candidates now have an eight-point lead over Democrats, their biggest lead of the year, in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Support for GOP candidates held steady over the past week, but support for Democrats slipped by a point.

Perhaps this helps to explain why Parker Griffith, a freshman congressman from northern Alabama, is expected to announce today that he is switching parties. Elected as a Democrat, he is switching to the GOP because of unhappiness with national Democratic policies. Several other Democratic congressmen in swing districts have announced that they will not seek reelection next year.

Men prefer GOP candidates by 19 points over Democrats, while women are evenly divided between the two.

Among voters not affiliated with either party, Republicans lead by a 43% to 19% margin.

Republicans have held the lead on the ballot for over four months now.

But since early November their lead has steadily increased. Democrats currently have majority control of both the House and Senate.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... nal_ballot