I was drawn to the new Morning Consult poll because they asked about favorability ratings not just for Biden and Trump and Pelosi and McConnell but also for some of the lesser-polled politicians who are in the news. First thing I noticed was that people-- registered voters-- know who Kevin McCarthy is now. In the past, far more respondents would say they never heard of him or didn't know enough about him to have an opinion than those who either liked or disliked him. Now, after his embarrassing public Trump ass-kissing and his nasty fight with Liz Cheney, only 20% say they never heard of him-- way down-- and just 24% said they heard of him but have no opinion. The poll shows 23% with a favorable opinion and 34% with an unfavorable opinion. Among independent voters, his favorable rating is 16% ad 34% don't like him.
Elise Stefanik, the Trumpist gal McCarthy swapped in for the anti-Trumpist Cheney, is still unknown nationally. 48% of registered voters said they'd never heard of her and another 16% said they heard of her but have no opinion. Of those who do have an opinion, it is 14% favorable and 23% unfavorable.
Now let's get down to the members of Congress who are the real avatars of the new Trump-GOP. 35% still haven't heard of Georgia sociopath Marjorie Taylor Greene and 16% said they had heard of her but don't have an opinion yet. 16% of registered voters see her favorably and 34% have an unfavorable opinion. I found it interesting that fewer Republicans have heard of her than the overall country! 37% of registered Republicans have never heard of her and 19% of Republicans say they have heard of her but have no opinion. 27% of Republicans likes her and 18% of Republicans dislike her. Among independent voters, 12% like her and 33% don't like her.
How about Matt Gaetz, best known as a child predator, sex fiend, drug user, bribe taker and Trump ass-licker? 36% of registered voters say they never heard of him, 17% say they have no opinion. 14% have a favorable opinion and 33% have an unfavorable opinion. Again, Republicans know less about him that the country as a whole-- 39% have never heard of him; 19% have heard of him-- a whoremonger and sex trafficker of underage girls-- but have no opinion. 23% have a favorable opinion and 18% have an unfavorable opinion. Interestingly enough 19% of men have a favorable opinion of him and 9% of women do. I wonder why women hate Matt Gaetz. Any ideas?
Gym Jordan (R-OH) is also not well known, despite his own sex scandal and general psychosis. 44% of registered voters said "Who??" and another 17% said they've heard of him but have no opinion. [The guy allowed one of his colleagues to rape teenage boys in his charge... for years and years.] Jordan has a 17% favorable rating and a 21% unfavorable rating.
In contrast to other Republican members of Congress, only 17% said they never heard of Liz Cheney (R-WY) and only 20% said they have no opinion. Her favorables are 28% overall-- 41% among Dems, 26% among independents and 15% of Republicans. Unfavorables are 35% overall, 23% among Dems, 32% among independents and 53% among Republicans. among people who admit they voted for Trump last year, 56% say they have an unfavorable opinion of Cheney (while just 13% say their opinion of her is favorable).
I've never seen the GOP whip, Steve Scalise (R-LA), polled before but 39% said they never heard of him and another 22% said they don't have enough information to have formed an opinion. Among those who do have an opinion, 17% said it's favorable and 22% said its unfavorable. Oddly, 14% of Republicans have an unfavorable opinion of him.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), probably the worst governor in the country based on how he handled the pandemic, and the choice of Republicans for their 2024 nominee if a Trump doesn't run, is liked by 23% of registered voters and disliked by 26%. Among independents, 19% like him and 24% don't like him.
In way of contrast, they polled Jimmy Kimmel, a late nigh TV host. Just 6% of registered voters said they never heard of him and 20% said they heard of him but have no opinion. His favorable are 43%-- significantly more than any of the Republican politicians-- and 31% have an unfavorable rating. Democrats like him most (62%) and Republicans dislike him most (53%).
Everyone has heard of Señor Trumpanzee, although 2% of registered voters still have no opinion. 42% have a favorable opinion and 56% have an unfavorable opinion. 58% of registered voters who identify themselves as evangelicals have a favorable opinion of Trump and 40% have an unfavorable opinion of him. Among people who say they voted for Trump in 2020, 13% say they have an unfavorable opinion him, although 6% of Biden voters have a favorable opinion of Trump. Maybe they like his crazy new blog where he rants and raves like a madman every day or two. Among those who are registered to vote but didn't vote in 2020, 41% have a favorable opinion of Trump and 48% said their opinion of him is negative.
But the part of the poll I found most interesting was the question about the 2024 Republican primary. "Who would you vote for if the primary was today?"
Keeping in mind they left off Ron DeSantis, among Republican registered voters:
Trump- 50%
Mike Pence- 13%
Trump, Jr.- 8%
Mitt Romney- 4%
Nikki Haley- 4%
Ted Cruz- 3%
Tim Scott- 2%
Marco Rubio- 1%
Kristi Noem- 1%
Josh Hawley- less than 1%
Larry Hogan- less than 1%
Rick Scott- less than 1%
Look at the numbers for Romney (a former governor, current U.S. Senator and former presidential nominee these Republicans all vote for! ), Cruz and Rubio (who came in 2nd and 3rd). These are not name-recognition numbers-- Trump has flushed them all down the toilet. It's amazing how badly Romney is faring even though he beat Trump in almost half the states, including the most important Republican state-- Texas, where Romney took 57.17% and Trump just 52.06% Georgia was even more crucial, with Romney having taken 53.30% and Trump losing the state with 49.24%. Same scenario in Arizona-- Romney 53.65 and Trump 49.06. In blue states like California (Romney 37.12% and Trump 34.32%) and Massachusetts (Romney 37.51% and Trump 32.14%) and deep red states like Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, Trump did worse than Romney-- not to mention Utah, where Romney scooped up 72.79% and Trump took around fourteen and a half points less (58.13%).
If you'll remember back to the 2016 primaries, Cruz actually beat Trump in Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas. Kansas, Maine, Idaho, Wyoming (66.3% to 7.2%), Utah, Wisconsin and Colorado. Now just 3% of Republicans say they want him as their nominee! Rubio is even more pathetic. In fact, I asked Alan Grayson, who plans to run against him next year and he said "Florida has 7% of the people in the US, but Rubio comes in at 1%. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that means that at least 6/7 of all Florida Republicans don’t think much of him, either."
And, as long as we're on the subject... among independent voters:
Trump- 38%
Mike Pence- 13%
Ted Cruz- 7%
Nikki Haley- 4%
Mitt Romney- 3%
Trump, Jr.- 2%
Tim Scott- 2%
Marco Rubio- 2%
Kristi Noem- 2%
Josh Hawley- less than 1%
Larry Hogan- less than 1%
Rick Scott- less than 1%
That all said, a couple of days ago Umair Haque cautioned his readers that Trump's grip on the GOP is... well mortal and he's turning it into America's Taliban. He wrote that Trumpism as a movement isn’t going anywhere and, in fact is ramping back up... hardening culturally, intensifying in key ways, escalating politically, its goals refined and more dangerous than ever. Trumpism has a machete in its hands, and it wants to take revenge-- a delicious and brutal final revenge-- on American democracy, which it sees as corrupt, illegitimate, perverse, and malign." He warns that what Trumpism wants is "a seizure of power, and the creation of a fascist-authoritarian state."
He concluded his essay by reminding everyone that "If all this was happening in any other country, Americans would call it 'radicalization.' That is exactly what has happened to a certain social stratum in America: its white working class. It genuinely believes, as a majority, in the Big Lies Trumpism tells. And there’s a reason for that, too. It doesn’t have a future. America’s working class lives desperate, shattered lives, with no real hope, meaning, purpose, value, or worth. That is what fascism ultimately provides them, whether the rest of us like it or not-- which is precisely why in the 2020 election, Trumpism actually grew among working class minorities, too. Trumpism is the radicalisation of America’s working class, just as happened in Weimar Germany as it became Nazi Germany, or in the Muslim World, as it turned to fanatical religion to alleviate the hopelessness of life in failed states and societies. That is what America is now."
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was a guest on Face The Nation today where he remarked that has has "serious concerns about the future" of the Republican Party. He said, he's "worked for eight presidents. Five of them were Republicans. I don't think any of them would recognize the Republican Party today. I think in terms of the values and the principles that the Republican Party stood for under those five presidents are hard to find these days."
