Ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, a local opinion poll showed that the Democratic Party leads the Republican Party by 7 percentage points in congressional majority preference.

According to a poll released by NBC News on November 1 local time, 52% of respondents said they want Democrats to control Congress, while 45% wanted Republicans to do so.

The Democratic lead widened by 2 percentage points compared to last month's survey, and among independents in particular, Democrats led Republicans by 21 percentage points.

Negative ratings for President Donald Trump's job performance stood at 60%, significantly outstripping his positive rating of 40%.

The 60% negative rating is the highest ever recorded in NBC polls across both of President Trump's terms, and about three-quarters of voters expressed dissatisfaction with the current U.S. economic situation.

Respondents who said President Trump fell short of their expectations reached 64%, compared to 34% who said he met expectations, while 70% responded that the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction.

When asked which party would handle inflation better, the Democratic Party edged ahead of the Republican Party by 1 percentage point.

On the economy overall, Republicans held a 2 percentage point advantage, but that gap has narrowed significantly compared to double-digit margins seen in recent years.

However, voters' evaluations of the Democratic Party itself remained unfavorable.

Favorable views of the Democratic Party stood at 29%, lower than the 38% for the Republican Party, indicating that a considerable number of respondents choose Democrats out of antipathy toward Republicans rather than active support for the Democratic Party.

Still, Republicans showed continued strength in their core base, leading in congressional preference in districts held by incumbent Republicans and in states where President Trump won the 2024 presidential election.

The NBC News poll was conducted from October 28 to 30 among 1,000 registered voters, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.

Reported by Son Hyeong-an | Video editing by Lee Da-in | Design by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News