Donald Trump turned the general election into a vote on his presidency - and the Republicans were punished. According to projections, the US Democrats will win a majority in both chambers of Congress.
Democratic Senate candidates also prevailed in Republican strongholds such as Texas and Kansas. An analysis of the voter groups based on a survey by the AP news agency and major TV channels shows which voter groups voted for the Democrats.
Young voters
In the House vote, more than 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds chose Democrats. In no other age group is the difference to Republicans (25 percent) so clear. A majority of voters under 30 (60 percent) said they voted to express opposition to Trump.
In the 2024 presidential election there were still clear shifts towards Trump. Young men without a college degree in particular voted Republican.
However, according to the AP, those under 30 only make up about a tenth of voters in these midterm elections. This limits the influence of their clear shift towards the Democrats on the overall result.
Their dissatisfaction is nevertheless noticeable: around half of young voters describe themselves as “angry” about the country’s development. This only applies to about a third of voters aged 65 and over.
Spanish-speaking population
Many Hispanic voters also voted for Democratic candidates to enter the House of Representatives. According to the AP, this time only about a third of Hispanic voters, i.e. US citizens with roots in Spanish-speaking countries, supported a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives. In the 2024 presidential election, around 40 percent voted for Trump. Around 70 percent of this group of voters now say that Trump's policies have worsened the economic situation in the USA.
According to information from the most recent 2020 census, around 60 million of the approximately 340 million people in the USA identify as Latino, or around 19 percent. This makes them the largest group of ethnic minorities in the USA.
Black voters
Black Americans overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives. According to the survey, only nine percent voted for the Republicans. Apparently they too are dissatisfied with Trump's policies. According to the survey, 60 percent wanted to show their rejection of Trump with their vote.
White voters without college degrees
The New York Times also observed a shift in favor of Democrats across the country in regions with predominantly white, working-class voters - who have been a key part of Trump's voter base. In the states examined, the vote ratio in counties with a majority of white residents without a bachelor's degree shifted by around 15 percentage points in favor of the Democrats compared to 2024.
According to the published graphic, the shift was particularly pronounced in South Carolina at 22.7 and North Carolina at 22.3 percentage points. In Kansas it was 18.8 points and in Iowa 17.3 points. The change was also significant in Texas and Ohio at 16.7 and 16.6 points respectively. The graphic is based on the count as of 12:19 a.m. Eastern Time. In these states, Democrats captured Senate seats from Republicans.
This clearly reversed the development of the last presidential election: between 2020 and 2024, these regions had shifted in favor of the Republicans. According to the newspaper, the current swing towards Democrats is more than four times larger than the movement in the opposite direction at the time. However, the evaluation describes regional changes and not directly the voting behavior of individual population groups.
Despite the significant shift, the majority of white voters without a college degree remained Republican. According to the New York Times, Republican candidates received 59 percent of this group and Democrats 40 percent. However, the vote gap shifted compared to 2024 by 14 percentage points in favor of the Democrats. The group represented 39 percent of the electorate.
More control from Congress
Beyond individual groups of voters, the AP survey shows a strong desire for a counterweight to the president. Around 70 percent of voters think Congress is doing too little to control the presidency. This view is also held by the large majority of party political independents and around 40 percent of Republicans.
Around 40 percent of those surveyed wanted to expressly show opposition to Trump with their congressional election. Almost 20 percent wanted to support him, for around 40 percent the president played no role in the decision. Overall, around 60 percent reject his leadership.
A flaw for the Democrats remains
Turning to Democratic candidates does not mean great enthusiasm for their party. According to AP, almost half of voters view the Democrats positively, compared to around 40 percent of Republicans. The Democrats are benefiting from Trump's weakness without enjoying widespread support themselves.
For the AP survey, the SSRS institute surveyed around 80,000 voters in all 50 US states. The survey ran from October 22nd to November 3rd, 2026, in Alaska from October 19th. The statistical margin of error for the overall sample is plus/minus 0.6 percentage points.
