Democratic voters dont appear to think the 2014 elections are as important as Republicans do.
With Republicans aiming to regain control of the Senate, three-quarters of GOP voters say this years congressional elections are much more important or somewhat more important than other elections, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Annenberg survey finds.
In contrast, 57% of Democrats grade this years midterms as more important than other elections.
The polling is consistent with evidence that Republicans are more enthusiastic than Democrats about voting this year. Democratic leaders, including President Barack Obama, have warned their party that its supporters arent excited about voting.
Younger voters, who tend to back Democrats but are less likely than other groups to turn out during midterm years, are among the least interested in the election. In the new Journal/NBC/Annenberg survey, only 20% of voters younger than 35 said they had a keen interest in the election.
Among people age 65 and older, a far higher share, 62%, described themselves as highly interested in the election.
Some 54% of Republicans said they are highly interested in the election, compared to 44% of Democrats, the survey found.
Voters who rated their interest in the election as a nine or 10 on a ten-point scale are considered highly interested.
The figures portend bad news for Democrats in tight races this year, among them senators running for re-election in conservative-leaning states. At the same time, more people in the survey said they would rather have Democrats in control of Congress than Republicans, 46% to 42%.
The survey of 815 registered voters was conducted Sept. 14-18 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.31 percentage points. It was conducted in coordination with the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Republicans, More Than Democrats, See 2014 Elections as Important