The FINANCIAL — Republicans continue to believe they relate more to President Trump’s political views than those of their party’s representatives in Congress.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters say that when it comes to major issues facing the nation, their views are closest to Republicans in Washington, including 34% who are more aligned with Trump and just 14% who relate more to the average Republican in Congress. Forty-three percent (43%) of voters say their views are more closely aligned with the average congressional Democrat when it comes to major issues facing the nation.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of Republican voters say their views are closest to Trump’s, while just 26% say that of the average GOP member of Congress.
The latest findings are generally in line with surveys conducted throughout 2017. But the number of Republican voters who align their views more with GOP representatives in Congress is up from 18% in July.
Among Democrats, 78% say their views most closely align with their party members in Congress, while 13% say their views are closest to Trump’s.
Among voters not affiliated with either major political party, 28% say their views align most closely with Trump’s, while 11% side more closely with Republicans in Congress. Forty-one percent (41%) of unaffiliated voters agree more with the average congressional Democrat. However, a sizable 19% are not sure.
Forty-three percent (43%) of all voters say, generally speaking, Trump governs more like a Republican, while slightly more (45%) believe he governs more like a third party president. Only three percent (3%) think Trump governs more like a Democrat.
Two prominent Republican senators who have decided not to seek re-election have been increasingly vocal in their criticism of President Trump in recent days. But most GOP voters want their party to follow Trump, not Senate Republicans.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of GOP voters say Trump governs more like a Republican, while 39% of those voters think he governs more like a third party president. Forty percent (40%) of Democrats feel Trump governs like a Republican, but 48% say he acts more like a third party president.
Among unaffiliated voters, 34% say Trump is more like a Republican, while 49% say third party president.
Younger voters are less likely than their elders to say their views are closest to Trump’s.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of black voters say they align more with the average Democratic member of Congress, while 41% of white voters and 37% of voters of other ethnicities say the same.
Women are more likely than men to say their views match the Democrats.
Ninety percent (90%) of voters who Strongly Approve of Trump’s job performance say their views are most closely aligned with his, while just four percent (4%) say that of congressional Republicans. Among those who Strongly Disapprove of the job the president is doing, 84% say their views are closest to those of the average congressional Democrat.
Even Republicans don’t see President Trump as a major asset on the campaign trail, and voters in general think support for the president’s agenda is more likely to hurt rather than help a congressional incumbent.
Twenty-one percent (21%) of Likely Democratic Voters think it would be good for the United States if House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stepped down, while the same amount (21%) of Democrats say the same of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader.
By comparison, 36% of Likely Republican Voters say it would be good for the United States if Senator Mitch McConnell stepped down as majority leader, and 32% say the same of House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Perhaps that’s because just 25% of Republicans think their representatives have done a good job representing the party’s values.
But faith among Democrats in their party’s leaders isn’t much higher. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Likely Democratic Voters feel that the party needs to find new leaders.
Over half of voters in both major political parties continue to say that they are moving away from the positions of their party’s leaders.
Voters are now more likely to believe Republicans in Congress are the bigger problem for the GOP president than Democrats are.
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