Democrats far outpace Republicans in out-of-state funding by nearly 3 to 1

The Democratic Party has been far more successful than the GOP in convincing Americans to donate to federal Senate and House campaigns outside voters' states for the 2018 midterm elections.

What are the details?

A story posted on the Center for Responsive Politics' website, OpenSecrets.org, revealed that 60 percent of Democratic Senate candidates' donations came from donors outside their home states. Less than half (49 percent) of donations to Republican Senate candidates were from out of state.

House Democrats also outpaced their GOP counterparts in out-of-state donations. Forty-five percent of House Democrats' funds were from out-of-state donors, while 34 percent of GOP funds were.

But those percentages mask the total dollar out-of-state funding gap between the two parties. Democrats have pulled in nearly three times the level of out-of-state donations that Republicans have.

According to FEC data posted at OpenSecrets, House and Senate Democrats have raised  $408 million for donors outside their home states. Republicans have raised $143 million.

Here's how the totals break down by congressional body:

DEMOCRAT TOTAL: $408 million

� Senate Democrats: $129 million

� House Democrats: $189 million

REPUBLICAN TOTAL: $143 million

� Senate Republicans: $60 million

� House Republicans: $83 million

Anything else?

The fundraising efforts appear to be paying off, if general nationwide polling can be believed.

According to the RealClearPolitics average of national generic congressional polls, Democrats have a 7.5-point lead over the GOP, 49.5 percent to 42 percent.