Poll Shows Nation Divided on Control of Senate

The nation’s voters are almost evenly divided on the question of which party should win control of the closely divided Senate in the Nov. 4 elections, but a 2-1 majority opposes repeal of the 22nd Amendment limiting presidents to two terms, according to poll results released Saturday.

The Senate survey, conducted in late August by the Roper Organization for U.S. News & World Report and Cable News Network, showed that 42% of those sampled wanted Democrats to run the Senate, now controlled 53 to 47 by Republicans. Another 40% endorsed continued Republican control and 18% offered no opinion.

The survey, reported in the Sept. 8 issue of U.S. News, found that Democrats held a slight edge in all areas of the country except the increasingly populous West. It also found men backing Republican control of the Senate 49% to 35%. These figures were almost reversed by the women surveyed, who supported the Democrats 47% to 33%.

Positive Toward Reagan

The magazine said young prospective voters in the 18-to-29 age bracket favored the Republicans, while older voters tended toward the Democrats, but cited no figures. At the same time, the poll found that 58% of those questioned approved the way President Reagan is handling his job, while 34% disapproved and 8% had no opinion.

Similar findings were reported in a copyrighted poll conducted for Newsweek by the Gallup Organization, which found that nearly two-thirds of the 771 adults surveyed by telephone approved of Reagan’s performance in office. But at the same time, according to the Sept. 8 issue of Newsweek, 62% of those surveyed opposed the idea of a third term for the 75-year-old President.

The Newsweek study found 60% of the sample opposed to the Republican-led movement to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which was enacted in 1951 with strong GOP backing to prevent any future President from repeating Franklin D. Roosevelt’s service of three terms and election to a fourth.