Opinion of GOP leaders in Congress drops amid Speaker turmoil: poll

Public opinion of Republican leaders in Congress has dropped as the House GOP struggles to put forward a new Speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ousting last week.

A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS found 74 percent of Americans disapprove of Republican leaders in Congress amid the tumultuous battle for Speaker of the House — an increase from the 67 percent who disapproved of how GOP leaders conducted their jobs in January. Fifty-two percent said they have a negative view of the Republican Party overall, which is also up from 45 percent in January.

House Republicans have been in turmoil since eight GOP members joined forces with Democrats to boot McCarthy from the Speakership last week. Despite Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) winning the conference’s nomination vote Wednesday, Republicans remain splintered on whether they would back him in a vote on the House floor.

Americans are split on whether they approve of taking away McCarthy’s gavel. Half of the survey respondents said they supported removing the California Republican from his post, while 49 percent opposed it. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are also divided, with 30 percent saying his ousting was a good thing for the party and 34 percent saying it was a bad thing.

Those who support former President Trump in the GOP primary are more likely to say they approve of McCarthy’s removal, with about 56 percent saying so. Only 37 percent of Republican-aligned respondents not backing Trump said they approved the move to boot McCarthy.

Despite low approval ratings for Republicans in Congress, Americans still view them more positively than President Biden, according to the poll. Fifty-four percent of Americans said they have more confidence in congressional Republicans than in Biden to “tackle the major issues facing the country.”

The poll was conducted among 1,255 U.S. adults between Oct. 4-9 and has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.