Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s favorability rating among GOP voters is down over the past three weeks, and half of Republicans say President Donald Trump’s attacks against him were appropriate. Poll: GOP voters side with Trump over McConnell

Republican voters are taking President Donald Trump’s side in his war with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll that also shows a bump in Trump’s approval rating after last week’s all-time low .

The poll shows more GOP voters think Trump is looking out for the party’s best interests than think McConnell (R-Ky.) is. By a more than three-to-one margin, they say that Trump is more in touch with Republican voters and that Trump is more honest.


More evidence Trump has the upper hand, at least among Republicans: McConnell’s favorability rating among GOP voters is down over the past three weeks, and half of Republicans say Trump’s attacks against him were appropriate.

Trump has questioned McConnell’s efficacy as leader of Senate Republicans after the chamber last month failed to advance even a pared-down bill to repeal elements of the 2010 health care law. McConnell “said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don't think so,” Trump tweeted last Wednesday. “After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?”

He took it further a day later, asking his Twitter followers rhetorically, “Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn't get it done.” Later Thursday, he shifted to what some considered sarcastic encouragement: “Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!”

Asked whether the attacks were appropriate, a 56 percent majority of all voters say they weren’t. Only 27 percent say the Twitter attacks were appropriate.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

But among Republicans, 50 percent say the attacks were appropriate, compared with only 32 percent who say they weren’t.

Asked who is more conservative, 50 percent of Republicans say Trump is, compared with 25 percent who pick McConnell.

While Republican voters say McConnell is more knowledgeable about the legislative process than Trump — 47 percent to 29 percent — they believe Trump is more knowledgeable about policy issues, 41 percent to 34 percent. (Voters overall disagree, saying McConnell is more knowledgeable on policy, 47 percent to 21 percent.)

Trump is more honest than McConnell, Republican voters say, 55 percent to 14 percent.

Perhaps most saliently, Republican voters say — overwhelmingly — that Trump is more in touch with them. Sixty percent say Trump is more in touch with GOP voters, compared with only 16 percent who say McConnell is.

Whether because of Trump’s attacks — or the failure on health care in the first place — McConnell’s image among Republicans has degraded over the past two weeks. McConnell’s net-favorability rating among GOP voters has dropped 11 points.

“By targeting Mitch McConnell, President Trump has once again demonstrated how much influence he wields within the Republican base,” said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult’s co-founder and chief research officer. “In just two weeks, the Senate majority leader’s favorable rating among Republican voters dropped, from 39 percent to 33 percent, and his unfavorable rating rose, from 29 percent to 34 percent.”

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted August 10-14, surveying 1,997 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Meanwhile, the poll also shows an uptick in Trump’s approval rating after last week’s 40 percent reading, which was the lowest of his young presidency.

In the new poll, 44 percent of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president. A 52 percent majority disapprove of Trump’s job performance, down from 55 percent last week.

Roughly half the interviews were conducted before the violence in Charlottesville, Va., that killed one person and prompted leaders in both parties to criticize Trump for his initial failure to pin responsibility on white supremacists and other right-wing groups.

Democrats held a 7-point lead on the generic congressional ballot in last week’s survey, 43 percent to 36 percent. But the new survey shows only a 2-point lead for Democrats, 40 percent to 38 percent.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: http://politi.co/2uYvRET | Crosstabs: http://politi.co/2uGk7LG

