--- title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Poll Sees Anxiety, Barack Obama Disapproval description: Poll finds anxiety on a range of issues, from Ebola to health care costs canonical: https://time.com/3524297/2014-midterm-elections-ebola/ author: Dan Hirschhorn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-20T11:31:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T07:58:14.704Z article:section: Politics og:title: Voters Say Events in U.S. 'Out of Control,' Poll Says og:description: Poll finds anxiety on a range of issues, from Ebola to health care costs og:url: https://time.com/3524297/2014-midterm-elections-ebola/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Voters Say Events in U.S. 'Out of Control,' Poll Says twitter:description: Poll finds anxiety on a range of issues, from Ebola to health care costs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Voters Say Events in U.S. 'Out of Control' by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Oct 20, 2014 11:31 AM UTC by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Oct 20, 2014 11:31 AM UTC Call it [the Freakout Election](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/politico-poll-2014-elections-112016.html). Two-thirds of likely voters in the most competitive states and congressional districts in the midterm election fight think events in the U.S. are “out of control,” according to a new poll. The survey by _Politico_ found widespread anxiety about the Ebola outbreak, terrorism, health care costs and President Barack Obama’s leadership. Only 36% think the U.S. is “in a good position to meet its economic and national security” challenges. The poll underscores how both Obama’s low approval ratings and a general sense of disarray are weighing down Democrats just weeks before voters go to the polls to decide which party will control the Senate. A majority of voters, 54%, either strongly disapprove or somewhat disapprove of Obama’s job performance. [_Read more at Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/politico-poll-2014-elections-112016.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3524297/2014-midterm-elections-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3524297/2014-midterm-elections-ebola/"},"headline":"Voters Say Events in U.S. 'Out of Control'","datePublished":"2014-10-20T11:31:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T07:58:14.704Z","description":"Poll finds anxiety on a range of issues, from Ebola to health care costs","url":"https://time.com/3524297/2014-midterm-elections-ebola/","keywords":["2014 Election","Health Care","Barack Obama","politics","Obama","Terrorism","ebola"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Hirschhorn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3524297/2014-midterm-elections-ebola/","name":"Voters Say Events in U.S. 'Out of Control'"}}]}] ```