With a little less than a year to go before the 2026 midterm elections, a Marist Poll shows Democrats leading Republicans by a massive 14 points in the generic ballot.

“Democrats currently have a 14-point lead against the Republicans among registered voters nationally on the 2026 generic congressional ballot question. This has changed considerably. Since 2022, voters have been divided about which party’s candidate they would support.”

This happened even though those polled place most of the blame for the shutdown on congressional Democrats. Still, six in ten blame either the President or the GOP in Congress.

When asked which political party they would prefer to control Congress, 55 percent of those polled said Democrats while only 41 percent said the GOP.

“This is the first time in more than three years that Democrats have had a notable advantage on the congressional generic ballot question. When last asked in November of 2024, registered voters divided, 48% to 48%.”

This is the Democrat Party’s biggest lead in years.

The last notable lead Democrats enjoyed in this same poll was a seven-point advantage in June of 2022.

The list of voter priorities might help to understand this 14-point blowout. Lowering prices came in at 57 percent. Controlling immigration was only 16 percent. Reducing crime was 9 percent. Ending the war between Ukraine and Russia was 7 percent. Maintaining peace between Israel and Gaza was 6 percent. Eliminating drug traffic from Latin America was 4 percent.

Other than having a full year to rectify this, there is some good news for the GOP. As of right now at least, this poll is a major outlier.

In the RealClearPolitics poll of polls, which includes this Marist poll in the average, Democrats are only up by 4.8 points. That is still a pretty sweet lead. Historically, if that holds, that is enough of a lead to assume control of the U.S. House.

Should Democrats take the U.S. House, that would pretty much kill the final two years of President Trump’s presidency. Nothing would get done. Democrats would serially impeach and investigate him.

Much of this is the fault of the Trump Administration. As great as Trump’s accomplishments have been, much of his focus has been overseas instead of on the economy.

Additionally, Trump 2.0 would be batting a thousand had they not so terribly bungled the Epstein Files issue. During the campaign, they promised to release the files and then did not.

Now the White House is willing to release the files, but it looks like they were dragged into it because for some inexplicable reason they were.

Instead of coming out of the Schumer Shutdown with the wind at their backs, this unforced error has them wrapped around an axle looking caught off guard and distracted.

If Republicans are going to avoid a 2026 wipeout like the one they experienced a couple of weeks ago, the economy needs to improve. Gas prices need to come down. Job reports need to bloom. Food prices must at least stabilize.

As crazy, as irresponsible, as extreme, as un-American, as anti-Western civilization, and as violent as Democrats have become, we could be looking at a Big Beautiful Blue Wave if the economy does not start coming to life by next summer.

The poll results show that despite all the chaos and extremism coming from the Democrat Party, voters appear ready to hand them control of Congress if economic conditions do not improve dramatically over the next year.

Republicans need to understand that voter priorities have shifted heavily toward kitchen table issues. When 57 percent of voters say lowering prices is their top concern, everything else becomes secondary. Immigration, crime, foreign policy, and drug trafficking all take a back seat when Americans are struggling to afford groceries and gas.

The Trump Administration has scored major wins on foreign policy and national security. But those victories mean less to voters who are worried about paying their bills every month. The administration needs to pivot hard toward economic messaging and results.

The bungled handling of the Epstein Files release made things worse by creating an unnecessary distraction. It gave Democrats an opening to change the subject away from their own problems and put Republicans on defense. This was completely avoidable.

Time is running out for Republicans to turn things around before the midterms. A year might sound like a long time in politics, but it goes by fast. The administration needs to show concrete economic improvements that voters can feel in their daily lives.

If Democrats do manage to take the House next year, it would be a disaster for the Republican agenda. The final two years of Trump’s presidency would be consumed by investigations, hearings, and likely impeachment proceedings. Nothing meaningful would get accomplished.

The stakes could not be higher for Republicans heading into 2026.