The Republican Party appears certain to take control of the US House of Representatives in midterm elections today, and fears are growing among Democrats that the party could take the Senate as well.
A USA Today /Gallup Poll published yesterday showed worsening predictions for the Democrats, with 55 per cent of those surveyed saying they will vote for the Grand Old Party (GOP), as the Republican Party is known, and only 40 per cent saying they will vote Democrat.
The spread varies widely according to different surveys, with a Bloomberg poll showing the smallest advantage of three percentage points for the Republicans.
In what is already interpreted as a resounding rebuke of US president Barack Obama and his policies, Americans will decide on all 435 congressional seats, 37 of 100 Senate seats and 37 of 50 governorships.
The USA Today /Gallup Poll represents the widest margin since Democrats swept the 1974 elections following the Watergate scandal.
The Democratic national committee yesterday began broadcasting a new advertisement across the country, in which Mr Obama warns of record cuts in education and decreased financial accountability if the Republicans win Congress.
Most experts predicted the Republicans will pick up between 50 and 60 seats in the House. They need only 39 to reach a majority.
Howard Fineman, a well-informed columnist for the Huffington Post , said he spoke "separately and privately" to two top Democratic consultants who thought the Democrats could lose 70 House seats today, a defeat Fineman called "a blowout of historic proportions".
The biggest losses in a single day occurred in 1938, when voters objecting to Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal threw 71 Democrats out of the House.
The Republicans would need to gain 10 seats in the Senate to win a majority there.
A Time /CNN poll published on October 28th showed the GOP ahead in four key Senate races.
Most painful for the Democrats, the Senate majority leader Harry Reid trailed the Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle, with Mr Reid at 45 per cent to 49 per cent for Ms Angle.
Ms Angle is one of the most controversial candidates in the election. She has called for the privatisation of social security and the dismantling of several government departments. A campaign advertisement by her against illegal immigration was deemed racist by Hispanic groups.
Republicans have seized on Mr Obama's use of the word "enemies" in an interview with the Hispanic radio station Univision on October 25th to lambaste the president in the last hours of the campaign.
Mr Obama said that immigration reform would be more difficult "if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us'."
John Boehner, the Republican congressman from Ohio who is poised to become the next speaker of the House, intended to criticise Mr Obama at a campaign rally in Cincinnati last night.
According to prepared remarks released in advance, Mr Boehner was to say: "Mr President, there's a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defence of freedom, the Constitution and the values of limited government that made our country great. We don't call them 'enemies'. We call them 'patriots'."
Mr Obama continued political efforts from the White House yesterday to stem the potential loss of his party's majority control while Michelle Obama campaigned for Mr Reid in Nevada.