Third of US midterm election voters don’t know candidates

Just weeks before midterm elections for control of the US Congress, a third of voters do not know the name of their party’s candidate for office. A new poll finds 34 per cent of Republican voters and 32.5pc of Democratic voters do not know the names of the party’s candidates in their districts. However, this level of candidate name recognition is about in line with recent elections, according to the University of North Carolina.

Latest polling data also shows 54pc of US adults disapprove of the way Trump is handling the presidency, with voters possibly viewing the midterms as a referendum on him. Gender could play a role in the upcoming vote too, according to George Washington University, with the #MeToo movement and protests around Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh possibly affecting the outcome.