Looking over this Navigator survey, it’s striking just how incredibly unpopular the House GOP agenda is after two years of poll after poll reaffirming how wildly popular President Biden’s agenda was.
And voters get how out of whack Republicans’ ambitions are. Given a longer list of 16 priorities, voters perceive the House GOP to be entirely too focused on investigating Biden, abortion, and immigration while not being nearly enough focused on inflation, health care and climate change.
After the speaker’s fight, some messages work particularly well at reflecting bipartisan disgust with House Republicans. GOP efforts to consolidate power and party infighting at the expense of the American people resonates more than generalized arguments about chaos and incompetence.
Specifically, 71% agree Republicans are focused on “getting and strengthening their power,” including 78% of Democrats, 63% of independents, and 66% of Republicans.
Also, 70% agree that Republicans are “fighting amongst themselves and neglecting the American people, including 87% of Democrats, 64% of independents, and 52% of Republicans.
Finally, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s favorability ratings have already begun eroding since last year, with just 25% of voters viewing him favorably while 44% view him unfavorably. That puts McCarthy 19 points underwater—6 points worse than his net favorability of -13 back in November.
Needless to say, this is no way to kick off the GOP’s first shot at House governance since 2019, after voters gave them a whopper of a boot in the ’18 midterms.
It’s bound to get worse from here for the House Republicans, given their overall level of incompetence and stunning disconnect from the priorities of real people.
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- Kevin McCarthy’s admission about George Santos raises questions. We want answers. - January 17, 2023
