STORY: :: Washington, D.C.
:: December 11, 2025
MALONE: "Recent election victories have given Democrats increased hope of taking back control of one or perhaps both chambers of the U.S. Congress in next year's midterm elections. But a new Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests that some of that enthusiasm may be premature."
MAMDANI: "We have toppled a political dynasty."
Across the U.S., Democrats enjoyed electoral victories...
SPANBERGER: "Tonight we sent a message."
... thanks to candidates leveraging concerns about the economy and President Donald Trump's overall unpopularity.
But as Reuters politics editor Scott Malone explains, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Democrats may still have a lot of work to do to win over a crucial voting bloc ahead of the midterm elections.
:: Scott Malone, Reuters politics editor
"Our polling found that voters 50 and over favored Republicans by about 46% to 38%. Voters under 50 preferred Democrats by 42% to 31%." // "And that's an important finding because voters fifty and up are also a lot more likely to turn out in midterm election years."
Malone says the strong Republican lead marks a major change from past midterm election cycles, which are held midway through a president's term.
:: November 7, 2018
"Not only in the current cycle are voters 50 and over favoring Republicans by a significant margin compared to younger voters, they're also favoring Republicans by a significant margin compared to where they were at this point in the last two election cycles. If you go back to the 2018 cycle, which was the first midterm, which was the midterm of Trump's first term, at this point in time, 50 and up vote voters are actually narrowly preferring Democrats."
Democrats need a net gain of three seats to win back control of the House and a net gain of four seats to take the Senate.
