Plus polling on voting methods, election forecasts, Trump rallies, socialism, the next Congress, congressional leaders, extremism, party comparisons, spending, and taxes.
This is scheduled to be the final Economist / YouGov Poll release before the Nov. 3 election.
All of the following items are among registered voters unless otherwise stated.
- More expect Democrats than Republicans to have a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the elections (44% vs. 31%). Expectations for the Senate are closer: 39% say Democrats will have a majority and 36% say Republicans will
- 31% think Donald Trump’s campaign rallies are giving a little or a lot of help to the Republican candidates he campaigns for, 33% think they are hurting, and 18% think they make no difference
- 50% say they would ever vote for a candidate who is a Democratic Socialist, and 41% would not. 51% think capitalism is the better economic system and 20% think socialism is; among Democrats, 38% choose socialism and 25% capitalism
- We asked respondents to tell us in their own words what they would like the next Congress to do differently from the current one. With the help of an AI tool to analyze responses, we find that 24% want the next Congress to check and oppose the Trump administration, 23% want members to do their job effectively, 15% want a lower cost of living, and 14% want members of Congress to represent the people over party and donors. People who give multiple answers are counted in multiple categories
- 18% approve of the way Congress is handling its job and 59% disapprove. Fewer approve than disapprove of all four congressional leaders: Mike Johnson (32% vs. 45%), Hakeem Jeffries (26% vs. 47%), John Thune (21% vs. 46%), and Chuck Schumer (24% vs. 54%). Schumer is the only leader more disapproved of than approved of by members of his own party: 42% of Democrats disapprove and 38% approve
- Half (49%) think the Republican Party is too extreme and 46% think the Democratic Party is. Independents are more likely to label as too extreme the Republican Party than the Democratic Party (58% vs. 41%)
- More think Democrats than Republicans would do a better job handling health care (48% vs. 32%), civil rights (48% vs. 33%), and inflation (41% vs. 36%). More think Republicans would do a better job handling immigration (47% vs. 38%)
- Majorities think the federal government should increase spending on Social Security (69%), Medicare (66%), and Medicaid (56%). Half (49%) say funding for SNAP — food stamps — should be increased
See the toplines and crosstabs for the October 23–26, 2026 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,440 registered voters. Respondents were selected from YouGov's opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent's most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty (Megan Varner / Stringer)
What do you think about the election, American politics in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
