A Democratic 'blue wave' could hand them as many as 40 seats in the House of Representatives in next week's elections, a leading political analyst said Thursday.

The Cook Political Report said that it is predicting a gain of between 25 and 40 seats for the Democrats, giving the party's House leader Nancy Pelosi the potential to have a comfortable majority.

But it is not predicting a matching sweep in the Senate, where the 35 seats which are in play favor the Republicans so heavily that they could gain five of the seats, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.

David Wasserman, the House Editor for The Cook Political Report, said that current trends put the Democrats on track for victory.

'Polls are flying across social media, ads are saturating airwaves and it's hard to keep up with a large battlefield of races,' he said.

'But one week out, the overall House outlook is fairly stable: Democrats are the clear favorites for the majority and appear poised to gain between 25 and 40 seats. Today, we're shifting a half-dozen race ratings, four towards Democrats and two towards the GOP.'

Reason to smile: Nancy Pelosi appears to have a clear path to a House majority which would make her Speaker again

President Donald Trump said in an interview Wednesday the Democratic blue wave 'is dead'

Despite that president Donald Trump declared the Democratic blue wave 'dead' on Wednesday and went further on Thursday.

'I think we're going to do very well in the election, even though history says that whoever the president may be, it trends the other way,' Trump said Thursday at the end of an immigration address.

'It certainly does seem that way, but nobody's ever been president that has the greatest economy in the history of our country.'

He predicted: 'I think we'll win the Senate. I think we'll do well in the House.'

Although the results are still in doubt and won't be known until Election Day, Trump has reason to worry control of the House is slipping out of reach.

The latest New York Times statistical analysis gives Democrats a six out of seven chance of taking it.

The latest NPR / Maris poll gave Democrats a nine-point advantage on the 'generic' question – the type of rating, which if sustained on election day, could signal a wave that would more than bring about the needed 23-seat gain. It has Democrats leading 52 to 43 per cent nationally.

Trump in the past has noted the historic headwinds he is facing, since presidents that control Congress typically lose seats in an off-year. Trump's personal favorability rating is also an issue, and the final weeks of the campaign have featured the president dominating national news coverage.

Trump said Wednesday of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who would likely become speaker if Democrats win: 'Look she's been losing for a long time, so you know, she would like to win.'

Trump added: 'She's been saying she's going to win for a long time. She hasn't been doing too well. We'll see what happens. I think we're going to do very well in the House also.'

In the Senate Democrats appear to be in trouble in a few states.

The latest CNN poll gives Tennessee GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn a 49 to 45 lead over Democrat Phil Bredesen. The seat was vacant because of the retirement of Bob Corker, a Republican.

In North Dakota, Kevin Cramer holds a nine-point lead over sitting Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in the latest Fox News polls. She is one of 10 Democrats who are running for reelection in states that Trump carried in 2016.

And in Indiana, another red state taken by Trump, incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly appears to be neck-and-neck with the Republican candidate Mike Braun.



