Democrats open up 14-point congressional ballot lead 2 months before elections

Labor Day traditionally kicks off the congressional campaign season, and a new Washington Post-ABC News poll has some encouraging news for Democrats. Registered voters in the survey favor the Democrat in their district over the Republican, 52 percent to 38 percent, a 14-point lead. That's an improvement from the 4-point lead Democrats had in April's Post-ABC News poll and closer to the 12-point lead they had in January. Independent voters favor the Democrat over the Republican 50 percent to 32 percent.

President Trump plays an outsize role in motivation to vote and which party people say they will vote for. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they are more likely to vote, 80 percent versus 74 percent for Republicans, and 60 percent of voters want Democrats to control at least one house of Congress "as a check on Trump." Women are more likely than men to disapprove of Trump, 66 percent to 52 percent (including 59 percent of women who strongly disapprove, versus 45 percent of men), and women support the Democrats by a 25-point margin. The Democrats have opened up their 14-point lead even as 58 percent of American adults say the economy is good or excellent.

The poll was conducted Aug. 26-29 among a national random sample of 1,003 adults, including 879 registered voters, and it has a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points overall and ±4 points among the registered-voter sample.

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