58% of likely 2026 voters want Democrats to keep control of the Washington State Legislature in 2027

Nearly three-fifths of likely 2026 Washington voters want the state’s Democratic Party to keep control of the Washington State Legislature after this year’s midterm elections, the Northwest Progressive Institute’s latest Civic Heartbeat survey has found.

58% of 600 respondents surveyed in late February by Emerson College Polling for NPI said they favored Democratic control, while 39% favored Republican control. Another 4% were not sure. This is the highest percentage that the Democratic Party has ever received in response to this question since we begin asking it in our statewide Civic Heartbeat polling many years ago. It suggests that Democrats are well positioned to pick up seats this year, while Republicans will again be staring at electoral catastrophe.

It has been ten years since Republicans won a Senate majority in legislative elections in Washington State, and thirty years since they won a House majority. With the party’s brand in the toilet because of its embrace of militant right wing authoritarianism and its refusal to break with Donald Trump, Republicans have no chance of contending for a majority this year and practically nonexistent opportunities to go on offense. The party looks like it’ll be struggling mightily just to hold on many of the seats it still has.

Donald Trump’s recent decision to go to war with Iran — in violation of the United States Constitution and the law — could make Republicans’ already awful prospects even worse, especially if oil prices stay high and worsen an economy already afflicted by his tariffs. Donald Trump won’t be on the ballot himself, but every Republican in the state House will be, along with eight Republicans in the state Senate.

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2026/03/58-of-likely-2026-voters-want-democrats-to-keep-control-of-the-washington-state-legislature-in-2027-a-record-in-npis-polling.html