Approval of Congressional Republicans Rising

Gallup finds evidence that the Democrats’ failed impeachment drive hurt them and is benefiting Congressional Republicans:

More Americans approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing than of congressional Democrats’ performance — 40% vs. 35%. The rating for Republicans in Congress has risen six percentage points since late October, before the impeachment of President Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives. Over the same period, congressional Democrats’ approval rating has edged down three points and disapproval has climbed five points, from 57% to 62%.

This chart, showing the parties’ approval ratings from 1999 to the present suggests that approval of Democrats hasn’t varied much since around 2012, until the recent downturn. Republicans, however, started to fall into disfavor around 2012, a trend that continued until it bottomed out in late 2017, when the GOP’s approval rating began to rise sharply.

What happened to cause voters to look with more favor on Congressional Republicans? I assume it was the fact that they advanced the Trump administration’s agenda through, for example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and judicial confirmations. They no doubt looked particularly good compared with the grotesquely obstructionist Democrats.

The interesting question is, will current trends continue between now and November? I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t; Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer aren’t going to shed their stripes during the next eight months. If that assumption is correct, Republicans could have a resounding 2020, especially if buoyed by President Trump’s re-election over a sad sack Joe Biden.

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