Thirty-nine percent of voters would now back the Republican candidate for Congress in their district, compared to 38 percent who would support the Democratic candidate, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals.
The poll also found President Donald Trump's approval going up with 47 percent now backing his job performance, compared to 47 percent who disapprove of it.
It is the first time since April that Trump's approval rating in the poll equals the percentage of those who disapprove on the way he's doing his job.
And it is a marked increase from a Jan. 10 Politico/Morning Consult poll. That survey showed 44 percent approved of Trump's job performance, compared to 51 percent who disapproved.
Here are the highlights from the survey:
- 43 percent trust Republicans in Congress to handle the economy, compared to 32 percent who are confident in the Democrats to do it.
- 42 percent back Republicans' ability to handle immigration, while 36 percent trust the Democrats.
- 41 percent trust Democrats to handle healthcare, compared to 37 percent who are confident in the Republicans to do it.
- 36 percent are confident in the Democrats to handle the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, while 28 percent trust the Republicans.
- 33 percent say it should be a top priority for Congress to investigate Trump's campaign officials for alleged connections with the Russian government; 18 percent say it is important but a lower priority; 18 percent say it is not too important; and 20 percent say it should not be done.
- 40 percent should it should be a top priority for Congress to pass an infrastructure spending bill; 34 percent say it is important, but a lower priority; 10 percent it is not too important and 2 percent say it should not be done.
- 35 percent say it should be a priority for Congress to pass a bill protecting young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children from deportation; 25 percent say it is important but a lower priority; 14 percent say it is not too important and 15 percent say it should not be done.
- 45 percent say the Trump administration is responsible for the current state of the economy, compared to 36 percent who credit to Obama administration.
- 33 percent approve of the way the Trump White House handled the allegations of abuse by the ex-wives of Staff Secretary Rob Porter, while 26 percent disapproved and 42 percent had no opinion.
"Not only have Republicans increased support on the generic congressional ballot, they are now trusted more to handle the most important issue when voters head to the polls: the economy," said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult's co-founder and chief research officer.
The poll, conducted Feb. 8-12, surveyed 1,985 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.