Brutal poll places McConnell's job approval rating in the toilet, even among Republicans



Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is deeply unpopular, according to a Monmouth University national poll of adults that indicates only 6% approve of the job the long-serving lawmaker has been doing compared to a whopping 60% who disapprove and 34% with no opinion.

McConnell even faces a wall of disapproval on the political right: the poll found that among self-reported Republicans, 10% approve of the job he's doing versus 41% who disapprove and 49% with no opinion.

McConnell, who has been serving as a U.S. senator since 1985 and has described himself as a "Reagan Republican," suffered two bizarre freezing episodes that were caught on camera earlier this year. His current term does not end until early 2027.

"Honestly, I think Ronald Reagan would turn over in his grave if he saw we were not going to help Ukraine," McConnell said, according to an Associated Press report from last month.

The Monmouth University poll also found President Joe Biden to be underwater, with 61% who disapprove of the job he's doing versus 34% who approve. And while 74% of self-reported Democrats approve, 25% disapprove.

A whopping 68% of participants in the poll disapprove of Biden's handling of inflation, while just 28% approve. And even among self-reported Democrats, 35% disapprove while just 62% approve.

And while 69% disapprove of his handling of immigration, only 26% approve. A whopping 47% of those identifying as Democrats disapprove of his handling of that issue, while just 50% approve.

The incumbent Democratic president is hoping to be re-elected next year during the 2024 presidential race.

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Majority of Americans believe Biden's policies making economic woes worse as his approval drops to embarrassing level



The majority of Americans, according to a new poll, believe policies enacted by the Biden administration over the last six months are hurting them — not helping.

What are the details?

A new Monmouth University Poll released Tuesday reaffirmed that Americans believe the most important issues today are inflation and record-high gas prices.

In that same vein, the poll found that a majority of American adults (57%) believe that President Joe Biden's policies have hurt them and worsened inflation, while just 8% believe his policies have helped the inflation crisis. One-third of respondents said they believe his policies have had "no real impact."

\u201cNATIONAL POLL: Majority say federal government actions over the past six months have hurt them on family\u2019s top concern.\n\n57% - hurt\n 8% - helped\n34% - no impact\nhttps://t.co/icoqYkvs7M\u201d
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) 1657049478

"Economic concerns tend to rise to the top of the list of family concerns, as you might expect, but the singular impact of inflation is really hitting home right now. And most Americans are blaming Washington for their current pain," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said.

It is no surprise, therefore, that nearly 9 in 10 respondents (88%) told Monmouth the country is heading in the wrong direction, a near 10-point increase from May. Only 10% of respondents said the country is heading in the right direction.

Unfortunately, 42% of respondents disclosed they are struggling to stay afloat financially, a surge of 18 points over last year. The increase of financially struggling Americans is "fairly [even] across the board when examining key demographic groups, including income, race, and partisanship," Monmouth explained.

Meanwhile, the poll found that Biden's job approval rating is severely underwater. Just 36% of respondents said they approve of Biden's job as president, while a whopping 58% said they disapprove.

The poll was conducted between June 23–27, which suggests why 5% of respondents said abortion and reproductive health is the most important issue impacting their family. In most Monmouth polls, the number of respondents that selected that issue was statistically insignificant.

Anything else?

The Monmouth poll confirms what most other surveys have shown all year.

According to the RealClearPolitics average, Biden's approval rating is about 19 points underwater, and more than three-quarters of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Interestingly, the Monmouth poll found that respondents were tied at 47% when asked which party they hope will control Congress after the 2022 midterm elections. Most other polls, however, show Republicans with a significant lead on the generic ballot.

Top NJ pollster apologizes for wild election miss: 'I blew it.'



A top pollster in New Jersey has publicly apologized for being drastically wrong with a prediction about the results of the state's 2021 gubernatorial election.

A Monmouth University poll predicted that Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy would defeat Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli by 11 points ahead of Tuesday's election.

But political observers were shocked when Murphy narrowly defeated Ciattarelli by less than two percentage points — a horrific result for Democrats in a state President Joe Biden won by more than 15 percentage points last year.

"I blew it," Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray wrote in an op-ed published by NJ.com.

"I owe an apology to Jack Ciattarelli's campaign — and to Phil Murphy's campaign for that matter — because inaccurate public polling can have an impact on fundraising and voter mobilization efforts. But most of all I owe an apology to the voters of New Jersey for information that was at the very least misleading," Murray wrote.

Monmouth polls for months leading up to the election had shown Murphy leading the race with double-digit support over his opponent. However, the most accurate pollster proved to be the Trafalgar Group, who in the weekend before Tuesday's election had Murphy just four points ahead of Ciattarelli.

Murray acknowledged there's a "growing perception that polling is broken," which has led some firms to stop polling elections to avoid damaging the reputations of their public interest polling.

"If we cannot be certain that these polling misses are anomalies then we have a responsibility to consider whether releasing horse race numbers in close proximity to an election is making a positive or negative contribution to the political discourse," he wrote.

"This is especially important now because the American republic is at an inflection point. Public trust in political institutions and our fundamental democratic processes is abysmal," Murray continued. "Honest missteps get conflated with 'fake news' — a charge that has hit election polls in recent years."

Murray suggests that if polling firms continue to get election results wrong and undermine public confidence in polling, it may be better not to do horserace polls of elections at all.

"Most public pollsters are committed to making sure our profession counters rather than deepens the pervasive cynicism in our society," he said. "We try to hold up a mirror that accurately shows us who we are. If election polling only serves to feed that cynicism, then it may be time to rethink the value of issuing horse race poll numbers as the electorate prepares to vote."

Poll shows strong support for voter ID and easier early voting



A strong majority of Americans continues to support voter ID requirements even as Democrats and mainstream media reports attack Republican-led efforts to strengthen voter ID laws as "voter suppression," according to a new poll.

On Monday, Monmouth University published the results of a survey that shows an overwhelming 80% of Americans support requiring voters to show a photo I.D. in order to vote.

The poll also found that most Americans support easier access to early voting. Americans are divided on expanding vote-by-mail, though a majority would support establishing federal guidelines for both mail-in voting and voting early.

From Monmouth:

A large majority (71%) of the public feels in-person early voting should generally be made easier. Just 16% say it should be made harder. Opinion is more divided on voting by mail – 50% say this should be made easier and 39% say it should be made harder. At the same time, fully 4 in 5 Americans (80%) support requiring voters to show photo identification in order to cast a ballot. Just 18% oppose this.

Easing in-person early voting access and requiring photo IDs both have bipartisan majority support. Approval of making early voting easier stands at 89% among Democrats, 68% among independents, and 56% among Republicans. Support for requiring a photo ID to vote stands at 62% among Democrats, 87% among independents, and 91% among Republicans. Only Democrats back making voting by mail easier to do, with 84% supporting this idea compared to just 40% of independents and 26% of Republicans.

More than 2 in 3 Americans (69%) support establishing national guidelines to allow vote-by-mail and in-person early voting in federal elections in every state. Just 25% oppose this idea. Support for establishing national voting guidelines on these issues comes from 92% of Democrats, 63% of independents, and 51% of Republicans.

"The poll contains some seemingly conflicting information on voter access. The bottom line seems to be that most Democrats and Republicans want to take the potential for election results to be questioned off the table. The problem, though, is they aren't likely to agree on how to get there," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

In recent months after the 2020 presidential election, which was unsuccessfully contested by former President Donald Trump, several Republican-controlled legislatures in various states have attempted to pass controversial laws they say would strengthen election security. Georgia, Florida, and Texas have each adopted high profile election reforms that critics say are partisan efforts intended to restrict the ability of non-white voters from accessing the ballot. Some Democrats and media pundits have gone so far as accusing Republicans in these states of implementing "Jim Crow 2.0."

Republicans counter that the unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots requested last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic had created a possibility for voter fraud and say new laws are necessary to protect the integrity of U.S. elections at a time when many Americans believe fraud was conducted.

Despite harsh media criticism, several of the measures implemented into law by Republican states are actually popular. The maligned Georgia law, for example, expanded early voting in the state and created a requirement for mail-in ballots to be accompanied with a form of photo I.D.

The controversy over election integrity has been inflamed by Trump's repeated claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and that President Joe Biden's victory in several states was illegitimate. The Monmouth poll found that nearly one-third of survey respondents believe that Biden won due to voter fraud, while a majority of 61% of Americans think the election was fair and square.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone June 9-14, with 810 adults in the United States. The question results have a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.