--- description: 50 percent of registered voters want Democrats to control Congress after the 2018 elections, a new poll finds. title: Half of Voters Want Democrats to Control Congress, Poll Finds image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Polls](/tag/polls/) ## Polls Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Half of Voters Want Democrats to Control Congress, Poll Finds  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 17, 2017 5:54 PM CUT  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 17, 2017 5:54 PM CUT Fifty percent of registered voters want Democrats to control Congress after the 2018 elections, a new poll finds — the highest number in nearly a decade. According to an [NBC News/Wall Street _Journal_ poll](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/democrats-hold-biggest-lead-congressional-preference-2008-n830436 "undefined") released Sunday, 50% of registered voters want Democrats to control Congress next year, in comparison with 39% of voters who want Republicans in control. This was an increase from October, when 48% of those polled wanted Democrats to control Congress, and 41% wanted Republicans. Democrats have not reached the 50% threshold on this question in this poll since 2008, NBC News noted. The poll was conducted from Dec. 13 through 15, among 900 adults, 736 of whom are registered voters. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points, and 3.6 percentage points among registered voters. The polling comes on the heels of Democrat Doug Jones’ victory over Roy Moore in the Alabama senate race. With that victory, Jones became the first Democratic Senator to represent Alabama in a quarter of a century. Jones was buoyed by high turnout in Democratic strongholds, particularly among African American voters. The poll also found an enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans; 59% of Democrats polled said they had a high level of interest in next year’s midterm elections, in comparison with 49% of Republicans. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5068043/voters-democrats-control-congress-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5068043/voters-democrats-control-congress-poll/"},"headline":"Half of Voters Want Democrats to Control Congress, Poll Finds","datePublished":"2017-12-17T17:54:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:36:09.690Z","description":"It's not good news for the Republicans","url":"https://time.com/5068043/voters-democrats-control-congress-poll/","keywords":["Polls","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"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/polls/","name":"Polls"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5068043/voters-democrats-control-congress-poll/","name":"Half of Voters Want Democrats to Control Congress, Poll Finds"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Doug Jones Just Won the Alabama Senate Election. Here’s What Happens Next","description":"Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore on Tuesday, becoming the first Democratic senator to represent Alabama in two decades and further narrowing the Republican’s slim majority in the upper chamber.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/taduHKFQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-12-13T04:54:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/taduHKFQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5068043/voters-democrats-control-congress-poll/","duration":"PT1M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5068043/voters-democrats-control-congress-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```