Republican candidates opened the widest gap between Democrats in several weeks, grabbing a 10-point lead over Democrats in Rasmussen Reports’ Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending July 25.
The survey found that 46 percent of likely voters would vote for the district's Republican congressional candidate, while 36 percent would opt for the Democrat. Support for Republicans inched up a point from last week, while Democratic support stayed the same.
Just over 85 percent of Republicans back their party's candidate, while 74 percent of Democrats support the candidate of their party. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the Republican candidate by a 44-to-23-percent margin.
Republicans have led on the generic ballot since mid-June 2009, and their lead hasn’t fallen below 5 points since the beginning of December. Three times this year, they've posted a 10-point lead. However, the results were much different during the last two election cycles, when Democrats regularly had large advantages.
When President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, Democrats enjoyed a 7-point advantage on the generic ballot. The two parties were very close through the spring of 2009, but Republicans pulled ahead for good in June, around the time Democrats began their campaign for healthcare reform.
GOP candidates started 2010 ahead by 9 points. Since the first of the year, Republicans have earned between 43 percent and 47 percent of the vote, while Democratic support has ranged from 35 percent to 39 percent.
Most voters continue to favor repeal of the national healthcare bill, but nearly half see repeal as unlikely. A plurality believes repeal would be good for the economy.
Almost 90 percent of voters say it is at least somewhat likely that a woman will be elected president of the United States in the next 25 years, up 8 points from four years ago. Almost 60 percent say it is very likely.
Voters have mixed feelings about government regulation of big business, but most feel small businesses are regulated too much. There is also a strong belief that more competition and less regulation would be better for the economy and job creation.
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