GOP Voters Approve of Republicans in Congress for First Time in Years

So much for bipartisanship. Most Republicans are finally happy with the job their representatives in Congress are doing, while Democrats are even happier with theirs than they have been in the past.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 62% of Likely Republican Voters now believe Republicans in Congress have done a good job representing their party’s values over the past several years. Just 29% think they’ve lost touch with Republican voters from throughout the nation instead. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This is a dramatic reversal of GOP voter attitudes. In January 2019, 53% of Republicans thought their congressional representatives were out of touch with GOP voters nationwide. Prior to that in regular surveying since 2008, more than 60% of Republican voters felt that way.

Democrats over the years have always been more supportive of their national legislators. In April 2018, for example, 47% of Likely Democratic Voters said Democrats in Congress have done a good job representing their party’s values, while 42% felt they were out of touch with Democratic voters nationwide.

But now 61% of Democrats think Democrats in Congress have done a job representing the party’s values, up from a previous high of 55% three years ago. Thirty-two percent (32%) say their legislators are still out of touch.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted February 16-17, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Voters give Congress slightly better marks for its job performance following the bruising battle over impeachment but still tend to be disappointed in their own representative on Capitol Hill.

Among all likely voters, 36% say Republicans in Congress have done a good job representing GOP values over the past several years. Fifty-one percent (51%) think they’ve lost touch with the party’s base instead, while 12% are not sure.

Similarly, 35% believe Democrats in Congress have done a good job representing their party’s values, but 55% say they’ve lost touch with Democratic voters nationally. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.

Most voters who are not affiliated with either of the major political parties are critical of both. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of these voters say Republicans in Congress are out of touch with GOP voters nationwide, and 62% say the same of congressional Democrats and their voters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the best-known leader of Congress and is enjoying her greatest popularity ever. Her counterpart in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, earns his highest favorables in five years.

Most voters opposed the U.S. Senate’s removal of President Trump from office following his impeachment by House Democrats and say his future should be left up to them in November.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it's free) or follow us on Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.