Less than 1 in 5 Americans in a new poll said they believe GOP control of the House next Congress will change Washington for the better.
Eighteen percent of respondents in a Monmouth University Poll released on Wednesday said that Republicans — who are set to take control of the House next month after securing a majority in November’s midterm elections — will produce a positive change in the lower chamber.
Another 21 percent said they expect Washington to change for the worse under Republican leadership in the House, and about half — 51 percent — said they don’t expect the change of party control to make much of a difference, the poll found.
“Some pundits look at these election results and claim that Americans want divided control,” Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a press release. “I think these frequent leadership changes are more a matter of chronic dissatisfaction with Washington.”
Americans’ expectations are generally worse than the last time a similar shift in party control occurred. In 2018, Democrats retook the House, while Republicans maintained control of the Senate.
Amid that transition, 28 percent of Americans polled said they expected to see an improvement in Washington and 16 percent said they expected to see a change for the worse. Forty-two percent did not anticipate any change.
Republicans officially secured the final seat in their 222-213 House majority on Tuesday, as a recount confirmed Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) narrow win over her Democratic opponent Adam Frisch.