After 100 days in office, House Republicans have ably burnished their bona fides as a party so disconnected from reality that their governance is entirely useless in the eyes of most Americans.
New polling from Navigator Research shows that the priorities of House Republicans are completely out of sync with voters, leading to a brutal assessment of their performance.
In terms of overall job approval, House Republicans are 24 points underwater, 35% approve and 59% disapprove. But even more importantly, among independents, House Republicans are 48 points underwater—10 points worse than earlier this year when Republicans first assumed control of the lower chamber. Now, just 18% of independents approve of how they are handling their jobs, while 66% disapprove.
In fact, among 17 specific issues tested, congressional Republicans weren't above water with independents on a single one of them. Independents were most dissatisfied with Republicans on abortion (-33), Social Security and Medicare (-31), corruption in government (-28), inflation (-27), and climate change/environment (-26).
The House GOP's dismal approval ratings are primarily driven by the sizable disconnect between the issues voters value and those they believe congressional Republicans are prioritizing.
For instance, inflation ranked as voters' biggest priority, with 52% placing it among their top four issues. Yet only 39% of voters said they believed it was a top-four issue for Republicans in Congress.
While 53% of voters viewed oversight of the Biden administration as congressional Republicans' top priority, just 15% of voters prioritized it themselves.
Below are the full results from the 17 issues tested.
It's also worth noting what voters find most concerning about having Republicans in control of the House. Overall, concerns about ending Social Security and Medicare, and cutting Medicaid top that list. Defaulting on our debt, banning the teaching of accurate history in public schools and preventing Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices round out the top five.
Taken together, the results show Republicans are highly vulnerable to attacks from an already displeased electorate, and they give Democrats a lot to work with in terms of specific issues where Republicans are weakest.
But, bottom line: Republicans are truly living in a different world than roughly two-thirds of the electorate.
As former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens tweeted Thursday: “The GOP has no policy agenda that most Americans care about. Attacking Bud, Disney, Nike, the bedrooms & bathrooms crusade, banning books & history classes mean nothing to most.”
On today’s episode, Markos and Kerry are joined by a friend of the podcast, Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that nothing supported the idea of a red wave. Simon and the crew break down his strategy for Democratic candidates to achieve a 55% popular vote in all elections—a number that a few years ago would have seemed unattainable, but now feels within reach.
