In the midterm elections, Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives by a narrow majority and Democrats held the Senate by a slim margin.
A national survey by Rasmussen Reports and The National Pulse finds 48% of likely U.S. voters believe the Republicans gaining the House is good for America, while 34% think it is bad for the country. Another 14% say the GOP taking control of the House will not make much difference.
Americans are split on the Democrats' holding the Senate, with 44% of voters believing that is good for America, 41% thinking it was bad for the nation, and 13% saying it will not make much difference.
With a divided Congress, the midterms did not produce the predicted Republican red wave.
In the survey, 33% of likely voters say Republican Party leadership is to blame for the shortfall, while another 33% blame former President Donald Trump. About 16% say individual candidates are to blame for Republicans falling short of expectations, and 11% think it is nobody's fault, according to the Rasmussen survey.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans or independent voters to blame Trump for the GOP's midterm disappointment; and 40% of Democrats say Trump was to blame for Republicans falling short of expectations. But that belief is shared by only 24% of Republicans and 34% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
About 39% of GOP voters blame Republican Party leadership, as do 26% of Democrats and 33% of unaffiliated voters. Yet, 16% of Republicans, 22% of Democrats, and 11% of unaffiliated voters, say individual candidates were most to blame for Republicans falling short in the midterms.
A strong majority of Republicans (79%) believe it is good for America that their party won a majority in the House, and 74% of Democrats think it is good for America that their party kept a majority in the Senate. By an 18-point margin, more unaffiliated voters say the GOP House majority is good for the country (45%) than believe it is bad (27%). Also, 40% of unaffiliated voters believe it is bad for America that Democrats maintained their majority in the Senate, compared to 34% who think it is good.
There is a slight gender differential in the survey results. Men (54%) are much more likely than women voters (43%) to say Republicans winning the House majority is good for America, while women voters (46%) are slightly more likely than men (42%) to believe Democrats keeping control of the Senate is good for the country.
Black voters tend to blame Trump more for Republican losses. Black voters (41%) are more likely than whites (33%) or other minorities (29%) to believe Trump is to blame for Republicans not doing as well as expected in this year's midterm elections.
Just over half — 55% — of white voters, 31% of Black voters, and 43% of other minorities think Republicans winning a House majority is good for America, according to Rasmussen Reports. About 40% of whites, 61% of Black voters, and 44% of other minorities say Democrats maintaining their Senate majority is good for the country.
Voters 65 and older are most likely to think it is good for America that Republicans won a majority in the House, and are also most likely to blame Republican Party leadership for the GOP falling short of expectations in the midterms.
High-income voters are most likely to say it is bad for America that Republicans won the House majority and also most likely to believe it is good for the country that Democrats kept their Senate majority, as well as to blame Trump for the GOP's midterm failures, according to Rasmussen polling.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. likely voters was conducted Nov. 16-17, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports and The National Pulse. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
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