{"id":10157,"date":"2026-07-19T02:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10157"},"modified":"2026-07-19T02:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:54:12","slug":"republicans-gain-ground-on-democrats-heading-into-2026-midterms-new-washington-post-poll-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10157","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Gain Ground on Democrats Heading Into 2026 Midterms, New Washington Post Poll Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5743790\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5743790\" class=\"wp-image-5743790 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26121821284871-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"trump\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5743790\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(AP Photo\/Matt Rourke)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Republicans have cut into the lead Democrats have heading into the 2026 midterms, according to the latest <em>Washington Post<\/em>-Ipsos poll.<\/p>\n<p>The new poll showed Democrats have a 48% to 45% edge on Republicans among registered voters \u2014 which means the GOP has sliced into the five point edge Dems had the last time the poll was released in May.<\/p>\n<p>Dems have a bigger lead among voters &#8220;absolutely certain to vote,&#8221; with a 53% to 45% cushion. But the Republicans have made up a little bit of ground there as well, after the Democrats had a nine point edge two months ago.<\/p>\n<p>One issue for Republicans, though: their voters aren&#8217;t as excited to get to the ballot box in November.<\/p>\n<p>Reporters <strong>Scott Clement<\/strong> and<strong> Gregory S. Schneider<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/07\/18\/democrats-have-slim-lead-race-house-washington-post-ipsos-poll-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>, &#8220;Republican supporters just aren\u2019t as energized to turn up at the polls, the Post-Ipsos poll suggests. If Trump is able to mitigate some top concerns by Election Day \u2014 for example, by bringing down the price of gasoline or ending the war with Iran \u2014 then his push to draw new congressional districts in red states could be enough to retain the GOP majority in the House.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>They added:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wpds-c-PJLV article-body type-text\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"wpds-c-heFNVF wpds-c-heFNVF-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy\" dir=\"null\" data-apitype=\"text\" data-contentid=\"SYJG6PJJ3FHHNE7YXQ5PMGZAX4\" data-el=\"text\">Democrats\u2019 hopes of flipping the House hinge on a more enthusiastic base, which is evident in the poll and in the\u00a0party\u2019s strong turnout\u00a0in recent primaries and special elections.<b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"wpds-c-PJLV article-body type-text\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p class=\"wpds-c-heFNVF wpds-c-heFNVF-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy\" dir=\"null\" data-apitype=\"text\" data-contentid=\"56OG4CCWABG3PDK2YK3MALBFOY\" data-el=\"text\">The Post-Ipsos survey offers mixed signs for Democrats compared with the polling ahead of the 2018 midterm in Trump\u2019s first term, when Democrats gained 40 House seats in a blue wave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"wpds-c-PJLV article-body type-text\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"wpds-c-heFNVF wpds-c-heFNVF-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy\" dir=\"null\" data-apitype=\"text\" data-contentid=\"CIHGXPOTV5DBNBRFN6PH3KHQAI\" data-el=\"text\">That year, Democrats had a 10-point lead in support for Congress in Post-ABC polls of registered voters, compared with Democrats\u2019 three-point edge this month. But the enthusiasm gap is greater now.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"null\" data-apitype=\"text\" data-contentid=\"CIHGXPOTV5DBNBRFN6PH3KHQAI\" data-el=\"text\">Saturday&#8217;s poll also showed most Americans are not thrilled with President <strong>Donald Trump&#8217;s<\/strong> leadership on the Iran war, with 29% approving of &#8220;the situation with Iran&#8221; and 69% disapproving.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5743789\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5743789\" class=\"wp-image-5743789 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/irantrump.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1074\" height=\"212\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5743789\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Screenshot via WaPo-Ipsos poll)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"null\" data-apitype=\"text\" data-contentid=\"CIHGXPOTV5DBNBRFN6PH3KHQAI\" data-el=\"text\">The poll&#8217;s release coincided with the news<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/trump-will-likely-ramp-up-iran-strikes-to-avenge-two-dead-troops-fox-news-reporter-reveals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> two U.S. soldiers died<\/a> in an Iranian strike on a military base in Jordan. Respondents said the most important issue to them was the economy \u2014 with 54% of respondents listing it as their first or second-biggest concern; immigration was second, with 28%, and the Iran war was third with 20%.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"null\" data-apitype=\"text\" data-contentid=\"CIHGXPOTV5DBNBRFN6PH3KHQAI\" data-el=\"text\">As for the Dems, victories by several democratic socialist candidates in recent primaries had some liberals worried. <strong>Bill Maher<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/bill-maher-says-election-of-3-really-crazy-democratic-socialists-in-nyc-shows-dems-are-well-on-their-way-to-blowing-2028-election\/\">vented<\/a>\u00a0that the Democrats would \u201cblow\u201d the midterms if they embrace the \u201ccrazy\u201d socialists, and\u00a0<strong>James Carville<\/strong>\u00a0urged congressional Democrats\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/james-carville-begs-dems-to-stand-up-to-socialists\/\">to shun<\/a>\u00a0any socialists who enter Congress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"qualified qualified-5 qualified-4\">The <em>WaPo<\/em>-Ipsos <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/tablet\/2026\/07\/15\/july-8-13-2026-washington-post-ipsos-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poll<\/a> was conducted between July 8-13 and had 2,648 respondents.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/republicans-gain-ground-on-democrats-heading-into-2026-midterms-new-washington-post-poll-reveals\/\">Republicans Gain Ground on Democrats Heading Into 2026 Midterms, New Washington Post Poll Reveals<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(AP Photo\/Matt Rourke) Republicans have cut into the lead Democrats have heading into the 2026 midterms, according to the latest Washington Post-Ipsos poll. The new poll showed Democrats have a 48% to 45% edge on Republicans among registered voters \u2014 which means the GOP has sliced into the five point edge Dems had the last&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26121821284871-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}