Republican Representative Liz Cheney has lost her position in the Republican Congressional leadership. The latest Economist/YouGov poll clearly shows why: her GOP partisans have turned against her.
Cheney’s troubles with the GOP base of supporters were clear after her vote to impeach President Donald Trump, leading to his second impeachment, a vote taking place after the attack on the U.S Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, the day Congress certified the Electoral College vote.
At the end of January, Cheney fared better with Democrats (a net favorability of +25) than she did with her fellow Republicans (a net favorability of -38). Since then, Democrats have maintained a net favorable view of her (+18), Republicans have not (-30).
Half of Republicans (54%) don’t know Cheney’s expected replacement as the third highest ranking Republican, Elise Stefanik from the northernmost New York district. But the Republicans who do know Stefanik like her.
Opinion of Stefanik is more typical for a Republican – more Republicans (33%) than Democrats (24%) like her.
The GOP House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, is also viewed favorably by Republicans. His Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gets mixed reviews. Republicans are closely divided in their opinion of McConnell, 46% favorable, 42% unfavorable.
Democratic Congressional leaders are very popular with their party members. By three to one, Democrats have favorable views of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Chuck Schumer.
Congress, however, is not a popular branch of government. Twice as many Americans disapprove of the way it handles its job (49%) as approve (24%). Democrats, who control both Houses (though narrowly) are more likely than Republicans to approve. Democrats approve 40% to 32%, Republicans disapprove 70% to 17%.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 US Adult Citizens interviewed online between May 8 - 11, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 2.7% for the overall sample
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