🗳️ Polls, explained
Banana News is not an official election source. Always confirm with your state or local election office.
How to read a poll
- Margin of error: a poll of 1,000 people is usually within about ±3.1 points of the true number, 95% of the time. The error applies to each candidate's number, so a lead smaller than about twice the margin is within the margin.
- Who was asked: LV = likely voters, RV = registered voters, A = all adults. Likely-voter polls are closest to an election result.
- Dates and sponsor: polls paid for by a campaign or party can lean toward their sponsor.
- A poll is not a forecast: it's a snapshot of the days it was taken.
Margin of error helper
| Sample | Margin (approx.) |
|---|---|
| 400 | ±4.9 |
| 600 | ±4.0 |
| 800 | ±3.5 |
| 1,000 | ±3.1 |
| 1,500 | ±2.5 |
Generic congressional ballot: what the aggregators show
Each row is one aggregator's published number for "which party's House candidate would you vote for". Not a forecast; we don't average them or call races.
| Aggregator | Rep. | Dem. | Margin | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decision Desk HQ | 43.1% | 51.1% | D +8.0 | October 25, 2026 |
| FiftyPlusOne | 43.0% | 52.2% | D +9.2 | October 25, 2026 |
| NBC News | 43.0% | 52.0% | D +9.0 | October 25, 2026 |
| RealClearPolitics | 42.8% | 51.1% | D +8.3 | October 25, 2026 |
| Silver Bulletin | 41.6% | 50.6% | D +9.0 | October 25, 2026 |
Source: Wikipedia, "2026 United States House of Representatives elections", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Figures belong to each aggregator.
Where to find the polls
- Silver Bulletin polls
Raw polling data, free to use with attribution to Silver Bulletin. - Wikipedia: 2026 United States elections
Poll tables with a citation for every poll (CC BY-SA).
We don't publish our own poll average or predictions.
Fact checks
Independent sites, linked for convenience. Banana News isn't affiliated with any of them.