Republicans in the US Congress may be able to handle the country's struggling economy better than President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats, according to a new national poll released Tuesday.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey showed 46 percent of respondents saying Republicans were better poised to handle the number one US domestic issue, compared to 43 percent who said Democrats were -- a far cry from a year ago when Democrats held a 52-39 percent advantage.
And Republicans were given a six-point advantage over Democrats on tackling the soaring budget deficit, which the White House has consistently said is a result of the previous Republican administration of George W. Bush.
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The poll, which has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, comes less than two months before crucial mid-term congressional elections, in which Democrats fear they could lose control of both chambers of Congress amid stagnation in the economic recovery.
"Democrats have slightly better numbers than the Republicans on just two issues -- social security and health care -- and on both of them, that gap is extremely small," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.
"That's bad news for the Democrats, who in past elections have had large leads over the GOP on those domestic issues."
Among Independents -- a voter group wooed by both major parties -- Republicans lead 51-32 percent on the economy, according to the September 1 and 2 telephone poll of 1,024 adult Americans.
Among overall respondents, Republicans are leading in other issues as well. They hold a 20-point lead on tackling terrorism, and an 18-point lead on illegal immigration, although their advantage on the war in Afghanistan is far smaller, at three percent.
