Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

A Power Shift in America?

Polls show momentum for the Democrats heading into November elections, but winning control of both the House and Senate could still be tough.

Listen · 12:42 min

I’m the host of The World.

Sept. 21, 2026Leer en español

When President Trump won a second term, he didn’t just win the presidency. The Republican Party he leads also retook the Senate and kept control of the House of Representatives. This control of both the executive and the legislative branches has given him a pretty free hand to do what he wants without meaningful pushback. Like start a trade war. And a real war.

But in six weeks, that could change. That’s when the United States holds midterm elections. All the seats in the House and a third of the seats in the Senate are up for grabs. My colleague Nate Cohn, our polling wizard at The New York Times, has looked at all the data points and says that, on paper at least, the Democrats have a real chance of winning big.

Image

Last week, a new New York Times/Siena poll found that the conditions for a so-called wave in November’s midterm elections might be coming into place. The only question is whether Democrats will be able to ride it.

Overall, Democrats lead Republicans, 51 percent to 43 percent, among likely voters asked which party they will support for Congress in their district.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT