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The new Morning Consult Senate approval rankings revealed that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) remains the most popular senator in the United States.

According to Morning Consult, “At the other end of the spectrum is the fiery Vermont independent, Bernie Sanders, who retains his place atop the list as the country’s most popular senator. Three-quarters (75 percent) of Vermonters approve of the liberal firebrand who finished as runner-up to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, compared with 21 percent who disapprove. However, Sanders’ elevation to national prominence does appear to have compromised his standing among some of his constituents. His approval was down 12 points (from 87 percent) compared with his numbers in September, while his disapproval was up 9 points (from 12 percent).”

As a general rule, small state senators tend to fare better than those representing large states because constituents tend to have a closer relationship with their senator. The drop for Sanders is not surprising because as he has focused more on national issues, it is normal for home state constituents to feel a bit ignored.

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The fact that the most popular senator is America is also one of the most liberal senators speaks volumes about the fact that the US is not as conservative as the 2016 election results suggest. One of the reasons why Donald Trump is struggling as president is that the majority of Americans don’t want a hard right government. There is little evidence that they would be any happier with a hard left government either, but the majority of Americans fall closer on the political spectrum on most issues to where Sanders is then Trump.

The popularity of both Obamacare and Sen. Sanders are recent indicators of a rocky future path for Republicans. Bernie Sanders isn’t perfect, but his views are closer to what the American people want on domestic policy than anything that the Republicans are offering.