WASHINGTON – A recent poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal found that Democrats have a 10 percent advantage over Republicans as the 2018 midterm elections approach.
That number is up from a poll conducted in January that showed Democrats had a 6 percent advantage over Republicans.
March's lead comes even as President Donald Trump's approval rating rises, the poll, which was conducted March 10-14, found. His approval rating is now 43 percent, four points higher than the January poll. However, it's still the lowest approval rating for any modern president at about 14 months into the job.
See the approval ratings of other presidents during the same period below.
“Survey to survey, numbers bounce around. But today’s state of play continues to tell the same story -- a president with lower than average job approval starting his second year with a Democratic edge in the midterms,” said GOP pollster Bill McInturff.
Trump's ratings improved among Republican respondents. Eighty-four percent of Republicans approved of him in the March poll, compared to 78 percent in January. His approval rating among white men rose from 52 to 59 percent and independent voter's approval jumped from 33 to 45 percent.
The recent poll also found that democrats are more enthusiastic about the midterm elections than republicans. Sixty percent of democratic voters polled said they have a high degree of interest in the upcoming election, while 54 percent of Republicans said they have the same degree of interest.
Hillary Clinton voters are also more interested than Donald Trump voters. Sixty-four percent of Clinton voters said they had a high degree of interest, compared to 57 percent of Trump voters with the same interest.
The poll also showed that the most popular political figures and institutions are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (48 percent positive, 20 percent negative), Planned Parenthood (52 percent positive, 25 percent negative), the “Me Too” Movement (35 percent positive, 18 percent negative) and special counsel Robert Mueller (28 percent positive, 19 percent negative).
The most unpopular figures and institutions are House Speaker Paul Ryan (24 percent positive, 37 percent negative), Trump (37 percent positive, 52 percent negative) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (21 percent positive, 43 percent negative).
The live-caller NBC/WSJ poll was conducted March 10-14 of 1,100 adults – nearly half reached by cell phone – and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.0 percentage points. The margin of error among the 930 registered voters is plus-minus 3.2 percentage points.