{
  "id": 18203698,
  "title": "Polls understated Democrat vote in landslide repudiation of Donald Trump",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/polls-understated-democrat-vote-in-landslide-repudiation-of-donald",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-04T22:49:37.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Conversation AU",
    "slug": "the-conversation-au",
    "url": "https://theconversation.com/polls-understated-democrat-vote-in-landslide-repudiation-of-donald-trump-295860"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the recent midterm elections, Democrats made significant gains, repudiating Donald Trump's presidency. With Vice President JD Vance's tie-breaking vote, Democrats needed only a four-seat gain to win Senate control. They achieved a total of seven Senate seat gains, five of which were in states Donald Trump won by double-digit margins in the 2024 presidential election - Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, South Carolina, and Texas. Democrats now hold a 54-44 majority in the Senate, though two contests in Alaska and Mississippi are still undecided. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican Dan Sullivan by 48.2-47.9, while Mississippi's Scott Colom holds a 65-vote lead over Cindy Hyde-Smith. Democrats also won the Kansas and Texas Senate seats for the first time since 1932 and 1994 respectively, and the South Carolina Senate seat for the first time since 1998. In the House, Democrats lead Republicans by 237-147 in called seats, with 51 seats yet to be determined. Polls had underestimated Democrat performance, leading to these unexpected victories.",
  "summary": "While counting continues in some seats, there was little suggestion the Democrats would win both houses so comfortably .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}