A new poll in advance of the Nov. 4 midterms shows the nation's growing fears and anxieties over world affairs and domestic problems, including little progress on race relations under the current administration,
Politico reports.
The poll, taken in states with some of the closest elections, shows Americans fearing their nation is "out of control" with issues like Ebola leaving them weary as confidence continues to sag for politicians of all stripes, Politico noted.
While voters are not unified during this election cycle around one key issue as with the Obama health care program in 2010, "the accumulation of disparate fears has created a sense of pessimism and frustration across the midterm landscape," Politico's Alexander Burns noted of the collective unease.
The new Politico poll, taken Aug. 29 through Sept. 7 and released Monday, is the media outlet's third midterm survey of likely voters in tough Senate states and tight House district races as ranked by the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
It found Democrats struggling over the current handling of the mounting Ebola crisis, while Republicans seemed to be winning some points in the divisive and stagnant immigration policy debate.
In terms of President Barack Obama's legacy, it found that
race relations did not improve much under the nation's first African-American president. About 46 percent of those polled said race relations had worsened during the Obama tenure while just 6 percent thought they had improved, Politico noted. Perhaps more telling, just 13 percent of likely African-American voters thought race relations were better and 38 percent said they thought they were worse.
While some economic indicators seem to suggest small markers of a correction, the poll found Americans' hopes diminished for a fiscal recovery,
Politico reported, with the finger of blame pointed squarely at Obama.
Nearly a third of voters said their economic picture had brightened over the last year while less than a fourth, 23 percent, said it had improved.
Neither party has an advantage with voters over the economic picture, the poll noted, as voters seemed "evenly split over which party they trust more to handle the economy,"
Politico wrote.
Other recent forecasts and polls, including one commissioned jointly by the Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Annenberg Public Policy Center, have given a broad congressional
midterm race advantage to the GOP.
A Washington Post analysis last week also found increasing evidence for a
GOP-takeover of the Senate.