Today's Poll Question: Which is the bigger midterm prize, the House or the Senate?

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Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

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But first, Michael explains it for you right here.

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Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

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For Independent Minds.

Michael Smerconish (0:14)

Hello, hello, today is Friday. It's the 16th of October, 2026 A lot of voting yesterday at smerconish.com on the poll question of the day. Who cut Ukraine's Starlink service this week? Your choices were President Trump, Elon Musk, both of them, or was it a glitch? I talked about it extensively in my opening monologue on the radio yesterday and here on the poll podcast. A vast majority, it hovered at like 70 percent, and that's where it ended all day long saying, it was both of them. It was both of them. Today, what's the bigger midterm prize? Is it the House or is it the Senate? You get subpoena power with each if you're the Democrats and you take control of the House or the Senate, but there are some other unique aspects to the question. For example, you can have an impeachment vote and you can pass that by a majority if you control the House. It takes two-thirds if you control the Senate or regardless of who controls the Senate.

There's something else, confirmations. The Senate power of confirmations, which I'll explain in just a moment, that's a big prize. I think the widespread view is that Democrats are going to take control of the House. They might take control of the Senate as well.

In the end, the president still maintains that veto pen. I'll say more about that in just a sec.

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The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

Michael Smerconish (1:37)

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The Daily Poll Question at smerconish.com.

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A non-scientific social political question designed to spark broader discussions about current issues.

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Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and review of this podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Michael Smerconish (3:21)

Question, which is the bigger midterm prize? Is it the House or is it the Senate when the midterm wraps up just two weeks from Tuesday? I saw a headline that I had in the newsletter yesterday from the Associated Press, House Democrats plan a first 100-day agenda if they sweep to power in the midterms. And the AP is reporting that Democrats are making a detailed plan for how they're going to hit the ground running. Not a wish list, but an actual schedule. Hakeem Jeffries would become the Speaker of the House, says that his party will unite right out of the gate. The plan is to launch the agenda in the first 100 days after the new Congress would be sworn in in January. And here's what's on the list. No surprises. First, health care. Restore the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expired at the end of 2025 Second, related, reverse the Medicaid cuts that Republicans passed in the Big Beautiful Bill. Third, the war. Democrats have already forced multiple votes to end the US military action against Iran. In the majority, they would push more of those war power resolutions. Four, tariffs. They want to undo the president's tariff regime and clawback trade power from the White House. And then the other half of the agenda is oversight or investigation or subpoena power. Jeffries has told the top Democrats on the oversight and judiciary committees to prepare investigations of the president, his family, everybody in his orbit. Among the intangibles, of course, what's going to be the place for those candidates who are backed by the Democratic Socialists of America? Will they form their own version of the GOP's Freedom Caucus? And of course, much depends on whether Democrats control just the House or the Senate too. Because think about it, either way, the president maintains that veto pen.