Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has the lowest net favorability rating nationally of all congressional leaders, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday.
Gallup found McConnell’s net favorable rating at negative 17 percentage points, followed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with negative 16 percentage points. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) were tied with net favorables of negative 14 percentage points each.
Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed on McConnell’s favorability said they had never heard of him or had no opinion of him.
The congressional leader who had the highest favorable percentage rating, the poll found, is Pelosi with 33 percent. But Pelosi also has the highest unfavorable rating of all four congressional leaders —49 percent. Eighteen percent said they had never heard of her or had no opinion.
Interestingly, Boehner and McConnell’s net favorability ratings are higher among tea partiers, the poll found. Boehner’s net favorability is 32 percent among tea party Republicans surveyed in the poll. McConnell’s net favorability was 33 percent among tea party aligned Republicans, the poll found. That’s somewhat counterintuitive given that Boehner and McConnell have been the target of tea party aligned outside groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund which has strongly and repeatedly criticized both Republican leaders as insufficiently conservative.
The Gallup poll was conducted April 24 to 30 among 1,513 adults ages 18 and older. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
(H/t: The Hill)
