Poll results not so good for Democrats

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A majority of voters in battleground races say U.S. President Obama hasn't changed Washington or brought change for the worse, a poll by The Hill indicates.

In 10 competitive House district races, 41 percent of likely voters told pollsters change had been for the worse while 30 percent said he has made no difference, results of The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll released Thursday indicated.

Twenty-six percent said they thought Obama had delivered on his promise of ending business-as-usual in Washington.

"All change is not good change, and the voters are expressing overall dissatisfaction with the direction of change so far," pollster Mark Penn said of the findings.

In another segment, The Hill survey indicated likely voters in 10 key congressional districts said they believe the media have become more partisan in the past five years.

The poll reported that 51 percent of respondents said they think media outlets became either more partisan Republican or more partisan Democrat since 2005. Thirty percent said the media are more biased in favor of Democrats and 21 percent said they though the media favored Republicans.

The results indicated 30 percent said they thought the level of partisanship in the media was about the same since 2005.

A third portion of the poll indicated three in five independent voters in key House district races said they thought Congress's Democratic leadership was more left than them on the political spectrum.

The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll also indicated 61 percent of likely independent voters in 10 battleground House districts said they thought the leadership under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was more liberal than they are.

"That's a very significant finding that tells you where independents are likely to go," Penn said. "In terms of independents, Reid and Pelosi are viewed as out of step."

The overall poll conducted for the Washington publication by Penn Schoen Berland surveyed 4,276 voters in 10 House districts held by two-term Democrats from Oct. 9-17. The margin of error is 1.5 percentage points.