Voters trust Dems more than GOP, but no advantage seen for elections

WASHINGTON, Calif., March 4 (UPI) -- Americans may trust Democrats more than Republicans, but that hasn't translated to an advantage for the 2014 elections, a Washington Post-ABC poll indicated.

The Post-ABC survey, released Tuesday, affirmed the adage that voters in midterm elections favor the party not holding the White House. Political handicappers say Republicans are favored to maintain their House majority and have a legitimate shot to take control of the Senate.

The Post-ABC poll indicated in the 34 states with Senate races, 50 percent of voters say they favor Republicans and 42 percent favor Democrats.

However, nearly two in three respondents told surveyors the GOP was out of touch "with the concerns of most people in the United States today."

About 22 percent of those asked said they were inclined to re-elect their representatives in Congress while about 68 percent said they were inclined to look for someone new this fall, the highest percentage recorded in a Post-ABC poll.

President Obama's overall rating still runs in the negative, with 46 percent saying they approve of the job he is doing and 50 percent disapproving, the same as in January, the Post reported.

The public is evenly divided on whether the president and the Democrats share the concerns of average Americans, results indicated.

Results are based on a nationwide survey of 1,002 adults conducted Thursday through Sunday. The margin of sampling error was 3.5 percentage points.