Poll Finds Republicans Gaining on Democrats as Health Care Debate Drags On

Republicans have taken a drubbing in a lot of polls, but a new survey by CNN/Opinion Research conducted Dec. 2-3 finds that Americans are split on whether they think the country would be better off if the GOP controlled Congress.

Forty percent favored Democratic control compared to 39 percent for the Republicans, well within the poll's 3 point margin of error. Sixteen percent said neither, 3 percent said things would be about the same, and 2 percent expressed no opinion.

In a mid-summer poll, the Democrats enjoyed a much greater margin, with 44 percent favoring them in control of Capitol Hill compared to 34 percent for the Republicans. At the beginning of the year, when the new Congress began, the margin favoring the Democrats was 56 percent to 31 percent.

Republicans also pulled within the margin of error with the Democrats on who Americans trust more to handle major changes in health care, with 43 percent trusting the Democrats more and 40 percent favoring the Republicans. Sixteen percent said neither.

"As the debate over health care continues, the Democrats may have lost the competitive advantage that they enjoyed earlier this year," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Since August, the number who support Democratic control of Congress has fallen farthest in the Northeast and the Pacific Rim -- two regions that have been Democratic strongholds for many years."

The Republicans also had good news today in an Ipsos poll conducted Dec. 3-6 which found the Republican Party making some gains on the Democrats when it came to how favorably or unfavorably Americans saw each. Democrats were viewed favorably by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin, but that was down from 61 percent to 34 percent a year ago. Republicans were seen unfavorably by 54 percent to 44 percent, a modest improvement on the 58 percent to 36 percent margin of a year ago.