Fifty-three percent of Americans are worried the midterm elections will result in a government gridlock, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll.
The poll, released on Saturday (October 1), showed that more than half of the 1,008 adults surveyed, were concerned the government would be divided after the November midterms, leading to a gridlock.
A divided government, as defined by the poll, means each chamber of Congress is held by a party — the Senate is held by one party, and the House of Representatives is held by the other party.
Since Democrats currently hold both chambers, a divided government is a pressing concern, as shown in the poll’s results.
Sixty-four percent of Democrats, compared to 51 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of Independents, are concerned about a divided government after the midterms.
Conversely, 49 percent of those surveyed expressed concern about a unified government, where both the House and Senate are controlled by the Democrats.
The figure dropped to 46 percent, who expressed concern if Republicans held both chambers of Congress.
Although polling first favored Republicans, with less than 40 days to go until the midterm elections, polling shows Democrats are more likely to win the Senate and Republicans have a greater likelihood of winning the House of Representatives.
However, Democratic candidates in the generic congressional ballot have recently overtaken Republicans by four percentage points, according to a Yahoo News-YouGov poll released on Friday (September 30). Democrats aren’t cheering that lead; instead, they’re cautioning voters not to take it too seriously after getting burned by polling in 2016 and 2020.
