Poll: Senators in key races have steady approval ratings — and voters still want them out

Caroline Tanner | USA TODAY

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WASHINGTON — Ahead of midterm elections this fall, a new poll suggests that despite steady approval ratings for certain senators, voters in their states are more likely to say they want a new person in office.

Of the 10 senators considered to be in a competitive Senate race by Morning Consult this fall, only one had an approval rating above 50%: Democrat Jon Tester of Montana (52%). The rest fell below that threshold:

Bill Nelson, D-Fla.: 45% Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio: 45% Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.: 44% Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.: 44% Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.: 42% Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.: 41% Bob Casey, D-Pa.: 41% Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.: 38% Dean Heller, R-Nev.: 38%

Per Morning Consult, those approval ratings have remained consistent since its last poll release in May. Approximately half of voters in these states expressed their desire to replace their senators.

This year's midterms are crucial for Democrats. In the House, they're working to flip 23 seats currently or most recent held by the GOP. Several seats are up for grabs in states that Trump won in 2016, including Arizona, West Virginia, Indiana and Missouri.

While a Morning Consult poll from May indicated that Republicans held a slight edge in key Democratic states on the generic ballot, it now seems that Democrats hold a slight edge against Republicans in toss-up districts, 39% to 35%. The remaining, 26%, said they are undecided.

The poll also found that President Trump's approval rating also remained steady (43%) at both the national and state level, with 53% of people disapproving of his job performance overall.

However, his approval rating varies among states he won as president and his biggest improvement was in Indiana (net approval + 4 points). In Wisconsin on the other hand, his net approval remained at -15.

Voters also said which policy issues they cared about the most: economy (27%), security issues (21%), health care (17%), senior issues (16%), education (7%), women's issues (4%) and other (4%).

The Morning Consult poll released this week is an average based on surveys taken between March 1 and May 30, comprised of interviews with more than 300,000 registered voters across the country. The national averages have an error margin of 1 point. At the state level, the margin of error varies from 1 point to 6 points and the majority of states have a margin of error below 2 points.

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Contributing: Merdie Nzanga