Opinions of GOP, Congress Slide as House Struggles To Organize Itself
A new survey finds that disapproval of Congress is at its highest point since the Republicans’ 2015 leadership fight.
After three weeks of chaos in the House of Representatives due to dysfunction in the Republican conference, a new survey finds that the American public has a historically low opinion of the legislative body.
A survey from Let’s Preserve the American Dream found that 86 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress, while 17 percent approve of the performance of the legislative branch. Another 5 percent are unsure.
While approval of Congress typically is low, the disapproval reported in the survey is the highest since November 2015, when a Gallup poll reported that 86 percent of respondents disapproved of Congress and 11 percent approved.
The 2015 survey was taken after another leadership battle that saw Congressman Paul Ryan assume the office of speaker, replacing Speaker Boehner. It also came ahead of the 2016 elections, when Republicans lost five seats in the House and two in the Senate despite winning the presidency.
The decline in the popularity of Congress corresponds with another trend identified in an October CNN SSRS poll that found that the popularity of Republican leaders and the Republican Party was on the decline.
The CNN survey found that 74 percent of Americans disapprove of Republican leaders in Congress, a 7-point increase from the 67 percent disapproval rating that the same pollster reported in January.
Opinions of the Republican Party, in general, have also become more negative since the beginning of the year. In October, 52 percent of respondents reported having a negative opinion of the Republican Party, an increase of 7 points since January.
The survey results come as Republicans appear to be coalescing around a new candidate for speaker, Congressman Mike Johnson, who drew minimal opposition from within his own fractured conference. In a conversation with the Washington Post, Mr. Johnson appeared aware that the chaos was hurting his party’s image.
“We’re going to restore your trust in what we do here. You’re going to see a new form of government,” Mr. Johnson said. “This group here is ready to govern, and we are going to govern well. We’re going to do what’s right by the people, and I believe the people are going to reward that next year.”
