February 22, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Take heed, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan: If it came down to it, Republicans would trust Trump over the GOP leadership in Congress, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
February 22, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Take heed, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan: If it came down to it, Republicans would trust Trump over the GOP leadership in Congress, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
The report, released by the nonpartisan think tank on Tuesday and based on a survey taken earlier this month, found that 52% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents would put their faith in the president if there was a disagreement between Trump and congressional leaders.
The exception: Republicans under the age of 40, who said they are more inclined to trust Congress.
It was a mixed bag for members of Congress in either party, though. Job approval ratings for GOP leadership were up to 34%, compared to 19% in September 2015. For Democrats, that approval rating was 37%, up from 34%.
But despite those upticks, all of the top four congressional leaders — House Speaker Paul Ryan (Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (California), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) — had higher unfavorable than favorable ratings . Well, sort of — 36% of those surveyed don't have any opinion on Schumer just yet.
Elsewhere in the report:
- 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are worried that congressional Dems won't do enough to oppose Trump.
- 57% of people have an unfavorable view of Trump, while 41% have a favorable view of the president.
- Looking for the most popular guy in the room? That would be John McCain, who was viewed favorably by 57% of respondents.
The survey was conducted by Pew from Feb. 7-12 among 1,503 adults.
Courtesy: USA Today
