CNN is justifiably hyped about its new poll offering a surprising assessment of this November’s congressional races.
“Democrats’ 2018 advantage is nearly gone,” its article about the poll trumpets, a function of the mostly erased gap between the Democrats and the Republicans on the generic-ballot question (that is, asking respondents whom they plan to vote for, the Democratic House candidate or the Republican). In December, CNN and its polling partner SRSS gave the Democrats an 18-point advantage on that question. Now the advantage is only three points, easily within the margin of error.
At the outset, we will note that this is not good news for the Democrats. Would the Democrats rather have an 18-point advantage on the generic ballot? Yes, they would. But we must also note that this new poll is not as bad as it may at first seem. CONT.
Philip Bump, Washington Post