Whether or not Republicans think Boehner should have remained as Speaker is closely tied to how conservative they think he is
John Boehner has been confirmed as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, despite the largest revolt against a Speaker in over 150 years. 25 Republicans voted against John Boehner, who has been Speaker since the Republicans won back control of the house in the 2010 midterms and Boehner will now preside over the largest Republican majority in the House of Representatives since Herbert Hoover was president in the 1920s
YouGov's latest research shows that a significant number of Republicans are dissatisfied with John Boehner. When asked whether they would rather has John Boehner as Speaker of the House, or another Republican, only 28% of Republicans chose John Boehner while 39% wanted 'some other Republican'.
Most of the Republican critics who voted against Boehner come from the party's conservative wing, and GOP critics have long questioned the Speaker's conservative credentials. Among ordinary Republicans there is a similar trend. 31% say that John Boehner is less conservative than the average GOP member of the House, triple the percentage who say he's 'more conservative'. However the largest group, 42%, say that he's in the mainstream of Congressional Republicans when it comes to his conservatism.
Republican attitudes to whether or not he should continue as Speaker correlate strongly with how conservative they believe he is, relative to other GOP members. Among Republicans who think that he is as conservative as most GOP Congressmen, 46% say that he should continue as speaker while only 25% say that he should have yielded the speakership to another Republican. Among Republicans who say he is less conservative than average, however, the vast majority (80%) would prefer that another Republican became Speaker.
Attitudes among Republicans towards John Boehner have not changed significantly in recent years. Despite enjoying a bump in support among Republicans immediately after the party won the midterms last year, Boehner has consistently been received poorly by certain elements of the Republican Party and its supporters.
Full poll results can be found here.
