Nearly three-quarters of Democratic voters say they are “extremely motivated” to cast their ballots in the 2026 midterm elections, a dramatic uptick from four years ago, polling shows.
Just six months after Republicans took control of the White House and Congress, 72 percent of Democrats and Democratic-aligned voters say they are “extremely motivated” to vote in the next election, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS this month found. By contrast, only 50 percent of Republicans say the same.
Democrats are now looking to enter midterm elections in 2026 under similar circumstances as 2018 in an attempt to break up the GOP’s control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
During the 2018 elections, voters dealt a massive blow to President Donald Trump’s first-term agenda, with House Democrats gaining 23 seats to take control of the House.
In October 2022, two years into President Joe Biden’s term when Democrats narrowly controlled the trifecta, just 44 percent of Democratic voters expressed the same motivation to vote in the midterm. That figure was just slightly higher for Republicans, with 48 percent saying they were eager to vote.