A nine-point gap in national polling
The US midterm campaign goes into its final weekend before the November 3 vote, and the national numbers have moved against the party in the White House. An Ipsos analysis put Democrats at 53 percent and Republicans at 44 percent among voters, a nine-point edge.
President Donald Trump's average approval stood at 37 percent in Nate Silver's poll tracker, according to a tally published by Forbes this week.
House forecast, Senate toss-up
Fox News Power Rankings predicted that Democrats will take back control of the House. Its Senate forecast is closer: Democrats at 48 seats, Republicans at 47, with five races still undecided. Losing either chamber would end the Republicans' ability to set the floor agenda in Washington.
A new CNN poll in Kansas found Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton posting the party's strongest showing in the state in more than three decades, turning a seat that was not expected to be competitive into a race worth watching.
Control of both chambers rests on a few dozen House districts and a handful of Senate races, which is why the closing days are being spent in suburbs rather than on national advertising.
Early voting closes in Georgia
Friday is the last day of early in-person voting in Georgia, a deadline that both campaigns have been pressing supporters to meet. Former president Barack Obama used a Georgia rally with Senator Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms to attack the administration over the Iran war, fuel prices, tariffs, immigration enforcement and spending on White House renovations.
Trump spent the week moving between battlegrounds: a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, with Senator Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy, a stop in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and a third trip to Texas this month to back Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
Money is still flowing. The Independent reported that Republicans have spent $183 million on television advertising in the closing stretch. Both sides now depend on turnout operations, because the voters left are the ones who usually skip midterms.