How Republican enthusiasm could cost Democrats the Senate

Republican voters are far more jazzed than Democrats about casting ballots in November, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. In the survey, 54 percent of Republicans say they're "highly interested" in the midterms, versus 44 percent of Democrats who say the same.

That could be problematic for Democratic candidates if the party faithful choose to stay home on election day. For instance, the same survey found voters by a 46 percent to 42 percent split preferred a Democrat-controlled Congress. However, among only those highly-interested voters, that split flipped to 51 percent to 43 percent in favor of Republicans.

Republicans have a large enough cushion in the House that they should have no trouble holding the chamber. The Senate is a toss-up though, with the latest New York Times forecast giving the GOP a 56 percent chance of flipping the Senate.

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