Democrats hold an 8-point lead over Republicans on a generic ballot heading into next year's midterm elections, according to an Economist–YouGov poll released Wednesday.

Forty-four percent of those polled said they would vote for Democratic candidates in their own districts if the election were held today, while only 36 percent of those said they would vote for Republican candidates.

The poll comes as Democrats aim to take back both houses of Congress from Republicans in the 2018 midterms.

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Congressional Republicans scored their first major legislative victory earlier this month after they passed sweeping tax reform legislation that received President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE's signature.

However, the poll showed that a majority of Americans were unhappy with the direction the U.S. was moving in.

Fifty-two percent of Americans polled said the country was headed in the wrong direction, while 34 percent said it was generally headed in the right direction.

Midterm elections typically see the president's party lose seats in Congress.

A CNN poll from last week found Democrats with an 18-point advantage on the generic ballot.

The Economist–YouGov poll was conducted from Dec. 24 to 26 among 1,500 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.