GOP edges Democrats in generic ballot for Congress

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Republicans hold a slight edge over Democrats in congressional voting preferences among registered voters, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday morning.

For the third week since the healthcare insurance battle ended last month, Republicans were ahead or tied with Democrats in the so-called generic ballot, which measures party approval.

In the latest measure, Republicans led Democrats 48% to 44% with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. Gallup surveyed 1,613 registered voters by telephone April 5 to April 11.

It is rare for Republicans to be doing well on this kind of poll, Gallup said. The past times it happened were in 1994, when Republicans wrested majority control of Congress from the Democrats for the first time in 40 years, and in 2002, when the GOP gained seats, a rarity for the president’s party in midterm elections.

However, the 2002 election was atypical, coming soon after the terror attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

-- Michael Muskal

Twitter.com/LATimesmuskal