“SEEING BLUE”: New CNN Polls Show Democrats Leading “Across the Board,” “Well-Positioned” to Win Senate Majority With Days to Go

CNN: “Taken together, these four states paint a picture of a Democratic Party well-positioned to make a play for Senate control. They exemplify the extraordinary range of the playing field in a political environment that borders on historic negativity toward the party in power”

CNN’s Harry Enten: “This is the best Kansas Senate poll for Democrats in at least 30 years”

New CNN polls “paint a picture of a Democratic Party well-positioned to make a play for Senate control” – with Democratic Senate candidates up “across the board,” including in “territory that was once staunchly Republican [and] now appears to be up for grabs.”

In Kansas – “a state that should be safe territory and not where [Republicans] want to be spending time, effort, and money” – CNN found Democrats “in their best polling position that they have been in a Senate poll this late in the campaign, in at least 30 years,” thanks to corrupt, floundering GOP Sen. Roger Marshall’s standing as a “uniquely unpopular candidate.”

For weeks, Marshall has been contending with “a series of damaging stories” that include his recently revealed “impeccably timed purchase” of pharmaceutical stock just before key FDA approval and his “predatory” record of filing over 700 lawsuits against his own patients, many of them uninsured new mothers, over medical bills “as little as $101” – producing 81 arrests. 

See for yourself:

CNN: Dems’ Best Kansas Sen Poll in 30+ Years

CNN’s JOHN BERMAN: Toto and Republican certainty, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore! Brand new CNN polling out of Kansas shows […] Adam Hamilton, the Democrat, at 49%, Roger Marshall at 45%, the incumbent Republican. With us now, CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten. Harry, let me just put this simply: have we ever seen a poll like this out of Kansas? 

CNN’s HARRY ENTEN: Not in my memory. I mean, look at this. This is the best Kansas Senate poll for Democrats in at least 30 years. At least 30 years at this point in the campaign […] Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the United States Senate since Babe Ruth literally called his shot in 1932. That is how long it has been. It has been 94 years. 

And right now, Democrats are in their best polling position that they have been in a Senate poll this late in the campaign, in at least 30 years. I mean, it’s like the ground beneath me seems to be giving way. That is where we are. These polls are nuts. 

CNN’s JOHN BERMAN: All right. You may know the question I’m going to ask. Why? 

CNN’s HARRY ENTEN: Why? Because this is what we’ve been talking about. Why? Well, part of it is definitely this: I mean, the least popular Kansas GOP Senate nominee at this point in the campaign this century? It’s Roger Marshall; 17 points underwater. 

No wonder you get a candidate, Adam Hamilton, who is uniquely popular in the state of Kansas. You combine that with a uniquely unpopular candidate on the Republican side, the Senator Roger Marshall, and all of a sudden you get a recipe that could, in fact, rise up and you get a Democrat potentially elected from Kansas to the United States Senate for the first time since ‘32. 

Again, the race is close, but the ingredients? They are on the table. 

CNN: New CNN Senate Polls Show Democrats Ahead “Across the Board”

CNN’s JOHN BERMAN: Seeing blue! Brand-new CNN polls in races that could decide who controls the Senate, with results Democrats will like across the board. 

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico leads Republican Ken Paxton by six points. This would be a major flip. No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas in three decades.

In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed leads Republican Mike Rogers by seven points. This is a significant shift. Back around Labor Day, there was no clear leader here. For Democrats, holding on to Michigan is essential in their Senate math. 

In deep red Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton is at 49% to 45% for Republican incumbent Roger Marshall. This is within the margin of error, but still a blaring warning sign for Republicans in a state that should be safe territory and not where they want to be spending time, effort, and money. 

And in Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson is at 49%. The incumbent Republican Susan Collins is at 45 percent. […]

Across the board in these numbers that we’ve seen from these four states, Democrats will see a path to the majority. 

CNN: Democrats in striking distance: New CNN polls in four states highlight party’s path to Senate majority

• The four states tell the story of a midterm playing field that has shifted in unexpected ways, leaving Democrats hopeful that they’ll be able to take control of the Senate after next Tuesday’s elections. That prospect largely seemed out of reach earlier this year, and it remains far from a done deal. But with President Donald Trump’s ratings underwater even in states he won easily in 2024, territory that was once staunchly Republican now appears to be up for grabs.
• Taken together, these four states paint a picture of a Democratic Party well-positioned to make a play for Senate control. They exemplify the extraordinary range of the playing field in a political environment that borders on historic negativity toward the party in power, and of the ways in which individual candidates can overcome – or succumb to – the forces of political habit.