US President Barack Obama faces a humiliating defeat in Tuesday's mid-term congressional elections, according to opinion polls.
The opposition Republicans are looking at a landslide victory with at least 50 seats almost guaranteed in the lower house of Congress, the House of
Representatives - they only need another 39 to gain a majority.
The Democrats' presence in the upper chamber, the Senate, is also under threat, according to the Washington Post, though it looked as if Obama may be able to defend a narrow majority.
In a last ditch effort the president has attempted to turn the tide in his favour, including putting in an appearance on cult television programme the Daily Show on Wednesday.
But at a rally in his home town Chicago late Saturday he admitted the outlook was not promising.
"There is no doubt that this is a tough election," he said. "It's tough here in Illinois. It's tough all across the country."
Meanwhile in Washington around 200,000 people on Saturday attended the "Rally to Restore Sanity", organised by two popular comedians, including Jon Stewart, host of the Daily Show.
Though Stewart, whose programme has become famous for skewering the inanities of the US political system insisted the rally was apolitical, many saw it as an answer to the aggressive tactics of the right-wing Tea Party movement.