September 2026: the Democratic Party widens its generic-ballot lead

A wider lead on the generic ballot

Polling of the Generic Congressional Ballot moved over the past month. The Democratic Party averaged 49.4%, up from 46.4% in August 2026, a change of +3.0 points. The Republican Party averaged 41.4%, up from 40.9% a month earlier, a change of +0.5 points. Those were the month's largest moves, and they leave the Democratic Party ahead of the Republican Party by 8.0 points.

The Democratic Party holds position 1 in the monthly averages. The Republican Party sits at position 2.

Who was in the field

The month brought 45 polls from 28 pollsters. The most active house was YouGov, with 6 polls. Morning Consult followed with 5. Rasmussen Reports published 4. Multiple surveys also came from ActiVote, Emerson College, Ipsos, Quinnipiac University and Verasight. Also in the field were AlphaROC, Bedrock Polling, Big Data Poll, Clarity Campaign Labs, Cygnal, Echelon Insights, Focaldata, Fox News Poll, HarrisX, Hart Research/Public Opinion Strategies, Impact Research/National Research, John Zogby Strategies, KFF, Marist College, Marquette University Law School Poll, McLaughlin & Associates, Quantus Insights, RMG Research, Siena College and SSRS.

Where the houses disagree

House effects below are each pollster's own average minus the all-pollster average.

• Marquette University Law School Poll is the friendliest reading for the Democratic Party, at +4.6 points.
• Verasight is close behind on the Democratic Party measure, at +4.1 points.
• AlphaROC is furthest the other way for the Democratic Party, at -6.4 points.
• Ipsos also lands low for the Democratic Party, at -5.9 points.
• HarrisX shows the strongest tilt toward the Republican Party, at +7.6 points.
• ActiVote is next on the Republican Party measure, at +6.1 points.
• KFF reads lowest for the Republican Party, at -6.4 points.

The record from last time

Scored against the House election 2024 of November 5, 2024, SSRS had the smallest mean absolute error, at 0.27 points. Echelon Insights came next, at 0.81 points. Cygnal followed at 1.29 points. HarrisX was scored at 1.34 points. Siena College matched that, at 1.34 points. Hart Research/Public Opinion Strategies recorded 1.88 points. Emerson College recorded 1.92 points, and John Zogby Strategies 2.11 points. Further back, Marquette University Law School Poll was at 2.34 points, Marist College at 2.36 points, YouGov at 2.95 points and Clarity Campaign Labs at 3.06 points.

The next scheduled vote is the House election 2026 on November 3, 2026.