- The messy election for House speaker persuaded Americans by 58%-17% that Republicans are unlikely to compromise with Democrats over the next two years.
- Only one in 10 of those surveyed say neither major party is “too extreme,” a sign of fierce polarization.
- Since August, Trump’s favorable rating has declined by 7 points among Republcians, 9 points among independents.
Call them realistic: Americans are braced for little compromise and less action in Washington over the next two years of divided government.
The messy fight by Republicans to elect a new House speaker left the public persuaded by 61%-17% that the GOP and President Joe Biden are less likely to get anything done together in the new era of divided government, an exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds. By a wide margin, 58%-17%, they say it seems unlikely that Republicans will do any compromising with Democrats over the next two years.
Half of those surveyed say moderate Republicans in Congress should have struck a deal with moderate Democrats to elect a moderate GOP speaker. A third oppose the idea, which is generally dismissed as inconceivable anyway at a time of fierce polarization.
The survey of 2,010 adults, taken Jan. 10-11 on the Ipsos online panel, has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points for the overall sample, 4.1 points for the Democratic subsample and 4.6 points for the Republican subsample.
McCarthy’s election gets mixed reviews: 33% approve, 34% disapprove. There’s some cynicism…
