If Democrats take control of Congress, they worry that Republican voters will move too far to the left and enact socialist policies. If Republicans maintain control, Democrats will be concerned about President Donald Trump’s unchecked power.
These are the results of a new CNBC poll showing what both sides of the political divide fear about the other as the midterm elections approach. Republican lawmakers who participated in the survey also said they were concerned about weakening border security and raising taxes under a Democratic Congress. Democrats say they are concerned about continued deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and continued military action in Iran under the Republican administration.
“This shows complete polarization and fear that one side is going to completely override the other’s policies,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist and co-founder of ROKK Solutions. “Republicans are worried that Democrats will go back to what they saw under the Biden administration.”
The results of the latest CNBC National Economic Survey (conducted Oct. 14-18 among 1,000 registered voters) could serve as a warning for both parties after the election. Amid widespread distrust of the government, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are suffering from low approval ratings.
Lucas Holtz, a senior political adviser at the center-left think tank Third Way, said if Democrats move too far to the left and adopt the policies of the Democratic Socialists of America, they could waste some of the predictive work they’ve gained in many heavily Republican areas of the country.
“They shouldn’t misread their mandate if they want to maintain the penetration of Latino voters and working-class voters that they’ve bled out cycle after cycle,” Holtz said.
And Republicans should understand that voters want a change of direction at this point, Bonjean said.
“Voters absolutely want a change from the status quo, but they also don’t want to go back to the way things were when Democrats ruled Washington,” Bonjean said. “The branding on the Democratic side is very bad, but the branding on the Republican side is bad.”
Respondents could choose up to two things they would be most concerned about if Democrats or Republicans took control of Congress, but that doesn’t necessarily represent their top electoral priorities. A CNBC survey by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies asked people separately to name the most important issue facing the country. In answer to that question, while affordability issues rank high across the political spectrum, Democrats and independents also cite government corruption as a top priority, while Republicans cite immigration and border security.
Still, the concerns expressed by voters about what the opposition will do in the presidential election mirror the messages in political ads sweeping much of the country in the final days before the midterm elections, said Alex Jacques, senior vice president of policy, advocacy and research at the progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative. Democratic lawmakers on the campaign trail have harshly criticized Mr. Trump’s corruption allegations, and Republicans are trying to portray the Democratic Party as overly progressive.
“For the Democratic Party, the main attack ads[targeting Democrats]… were about DSA, and about cultural issues that Republicans are trying to attack to tie Democrats to some kind of far-left or extremist movement,” Jacques said. “But the overall tone of the election is still one where the economy is more important than anything else, and people tend to blame the president on prices and blame Congress for making the president possible.”
If Democrats take control of Congress, 22% of all voters say they are concerned that Democrats will fail to lower prices, including 31% of Democrats, 22% of independents, and 15% of Republicans. If Republicans retain control of the House and Senate, 24% of voters say they are concerned about whether prices will fall, compared to 32% of Republicans, 22% of independents, and 17% of Democrats.
But these concerns follow concerns about checks on policies related to President Trump and the DSA, a political group that has won recent victories in New York City, Washington, Denver and elsewhere and advocates progressive social and populist economic policies.
Of all voters surveyed, 44% said they were concerned that President Trump could exceed his constitutional authority, including 74% of Democrats and 45% of independents. 28% of respondents expressed concern about the implementation of DSA policies, including 54% of Republicans and 22% of independents.
