Poll: State heading in right direction

A new statewide poll has found greater support for Democrats regaining control of the closely divided Indiana House, while also finding more people saying the state is heading in the right direction than in the wrong direction.\nRepublicans now hold a 52-48 majority in the House, but 45 percent of those surveyed said they wanted to see the Democrats win control, with the GOP picked by 39 percent in the WISH-TV Indiana Poll released Tuesday night. Sixteen percent were not sure.\nThe poll found strong majorities of both Republicans and Democrats backing their party winning control of the House. Among independents and those of other parties, however, Democrats were the preference by 49 percent to 28 percent.\nControl of the House is the top state-level priority for both parties going into the Nov. 7 election. Republicans hold a commanding 33-17 majority in the state Senate and hold all elected state offices.\nThe poll also found 47 percent saying they thought the state was heading in the right direction; 41 percent said the state was heading in the wrong direction, and 12 percent were not sure.\nRepublicans thought the state was going in the right direction by a 62 percent to 28 percent margin, while Democrats disagreed by a 56 percent to 31 percent margin. Independents were closely split — 43 percent saying right direction and 42 percent saying wrong.\nThe telephone poll of 800 likely voters has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points and was conducted Oct. 17-20 by Maryland-based Research 2000.