Barack Obama campaigns for Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan
With one week to go until the final day of voting in the midterm elections, control of the US Senate still hangs in the balance as new polls show Democrats narrowly ahead or tied in key states.
According to a new survey from The New York Times and Siena College, Arizona’s Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and Georgia’s Raphael Warnock are all ahead of their rivals by 3-6 points. Were all three to win, that would represent a net pickup of one seat for the Democrats.
However, should Mr Warnock finish with under 50 per cent of the vote after 8 November – as is expected based on current polling – he and Mr Walker will be forced into a January runoff election.
Meanwhile, former president Barack Obama is continuing his late-in-the-game tour of crucial states as the Democrats try and drive up voter enthusiasm and turnout among their base. Many in the party worry that Joe Biden’s flagging approval rating is a sign that voters who broadly agree with his administration’s agenda are still insufficiently motivated to vote on 8 November, raising the prospect that several Republicans could win key races thanks to an “enthusiasm gap”.
