In the closing days of the 2026 midterm cycle, all available evidence suggests that the trends are moving in Democrats’ favor. Polls, forecasts, and prediction markets are now ringing alarm bells for Republicans, as virtually all key races move in Democrats’ direction.
Indeed, on Saturday, Cook Political Report shifted "a dozen more House races" toward Democrats, now projecting that Democrats will flip 12-25 House seats, potentially giving them their largest majority since 2009.
As a result, political forecasting sites VoteHub and Decision Desk have updated their odds of Democrats taking the House to their highest levels of the cycle: 89% and 83%, respectively, as of Sunday afternoon.
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Prediction markets have followed suit: Kalshi gives Democrats a 93% chance to take the House and a 71% chance to win the Senate as well.
To that end, the trends in the Senate point in the same direction, and while Republicans have slightly better odds of keeping the upper chamber, it’s clear that the momentum is with Democrats.
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Final polls ahead of the election show all or most of the seven key races shifting to the left, including in Kansas, where Democrat Adam Hamilton leads in the four most recent polls, including one from The Washington Post in which he led Republican incumbent Roger Marshall by 9%.
True, that is an outlier – and its accuracy is being reviewed by The Washington Post – but the fact that every other poll is within 6 points in a state that has not had a Democratic senator in over 90 years indicates that the underlying trend is moving in Democrats’ favor.
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Other Republican-held seats like South Carolina, Iowa, Maine, Texas, and Ohio are also increasingly within reach for Democrats.
Of those races, South Carolina and Iowa are the only two where the Republican candidate has a polling lead, but it’s under 3 points in South Carolina and under 1 point in Iowa. Thus, both races are statistically tied and within reach for Democrats.
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In the other states – Maine, Texas, Ohio, and Michigan – the polls have consistently shown Democratic candidates leading.
And while those leads are small, they have not contracted, and Michigan in particular has seen a noticeable widening, with Abdul El-Sayed now leading Republican Mike Rogers by roughly 4 points.
However, it will be interesting to see whether Rep. Haley Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers impacts the race, particularly among moderates and Black voters, as polls show that El-Sayed has struggled with both key demographics.
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That said, given that North Carolina’s Senate race is effectively decided for Democrat Roy Cooper – who leads Republican Michael Whatley by nearly 11 points – Democrats now have a wide range of possible routes to winning the Senate.
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Immediately after the 2024 election, it may have seemed improbable that just two years later, Democrats would be on the verge of retaking both the House and Senate, let alone possibly winning states like South Carolina, Alaska, Iowa, Texas, and Kansas.
Yet it is a very real possibility, owing in no small part to President Trump’s approval rating, currently below 40%.
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On key issues, it’s even worse. Less than 3 in 10 (29%) Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, and an even smaller 22% approve of how he’s handled inflation, per Fox News polling.
Even as Republican candidates and operatives talk up their chances in these close races, there are signs of panic within Republican ranks.
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Trump’s decision to cancel, then reschedule, rallies in Kansas and Iowa this weekend says as much. Republicans in those two deep-red states should not need a boost from the president, but with the national environment tilting toward Democrats, they do.
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Put another way, if Republicans were confident in their chances, they would not need the president to campaign in some of the deepest-red states and districts.
Ultimately, while we will only know the true picture after all the votes have been counted, coming out of the campaign’s final weekend, it is clear that Democrats have the advantage.
Carly Cooperman is CEO of Schoen Cooperman Research.
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