Republicans remain poised to win control of the U.S. House next week, but Democrats have made modest inroads with independents, a Gallup poll indicates.
Results released Tuesday indicate Republicans still average a 48 percent to 44 percent margin among all voters on a generic ballot, but the advantage is slightly smaller than in previous polling, Gallup said Tuesday.
More than 90 percent of voters identifying themselves as Democratic and Republican said they will vote for their party's candidate in the House, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.
While results indicated independent likely voters remain more likely to support the GOP candidate in their district, the margin among this voting bloc has narrowed. Independents who are likely voters shifted from giving Republicans a 25 percentage point advantage in late September and early October to a 15 percentage point edge in the latest poll, Gallup said.
Gallup said the latest information indicates Republicans still are more enthusiastic about voting than Democrats, by a 48 percent-to-36 percent margin, which is slightly smaller gap than found in polls conducted in late September and early October.
Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews of 3,051 adults conducted Oct. 14-17 and Oct. 21-24. The margin of error for the total sample is 2 percentage points. The margin of error for the sample of 1,989 likely voters is 3 percentage points.