The FINANCIAL — Republican voters approve of President Trump’s criticism of GOP senators. Democrats don’t.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 50% of Likely Republican Voters think the president’s criticism of senators in his own party is good for the country. Thirty-two percent (32%) say it’s bad for the country, while 10% feel the criticism has no impact.
Democrats and unaffiliated voters are much more worried about the Republican president’s criticism of Republican senators than GOP voters are. Seventy-six percent (76%) of Democrats and a plurality (49%) of voters not affiliated with either major party think Trump’s criticism of senators in his own party is bad for the country.
Add it all up, and 30% of all likely voters think the criticism is good for the country. Fifty-four percent (54%) say it’s bad for America, and 11% believe it has no impact.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters think that most Republican senators are more likely to agree with Trump than with Senate Democrats. Twenty-two percent (22%) believe most GOP senators are more likely to agree with their Democratic peers, while 16% are not sure.
Just 11% now rate the job the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is doing as good or excellent.
In late July, voters by a 43% to 36% margin said that congressional Republicans are a bigger problem for the president than Democrats are.
It’s interesting to note that only 60% of Republican voters feel that most GOP senators are more likely to agree with the Republican president. Twenty-one percent (21%) think they’re more in agreement with Senate Democrats, and a sizable 19% are undecided.
Men are more likely than women to think most Republican senators agree with Trump, but they also are more supportive of the president’s criticism of the senators in his own party. Middle-aged voters are the most likely to approve of the criticism, compared to those under 40 and over 65.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of conservative voters think Trump’s criticism of GOP senators is good for the country, a view shared by just 22% of moderates and eight percent (8%) of liberals.
Among voters who Strongly Approve of the job the president is doing, 79% feel his criticism of Republican senators is good for the country. Eighty-two percent (82%) of those who Strongly Disapprove of the job Trump is doing say that criticism is bad for the country.
Republican voters say they relate more to the president’s political views than those of their party’s representatives in Congress.
Most Republicans also say most GOP members of Congress have lost touch with their party’s voters from throughout the nation.
Most Republican voters don’t care much these days for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, making him now the most unpopular of the top congressional leaders.
Thirty-six percent (36%) of Republicans think it would be good for the United States if McConnell stepped down as Senate majority leader, while only 17% believe it would be bad for the country.
