So far, 2021 is not shaping up to be a great year for Mitch McConnell.
Not only did his party lose the Senate after Georgia’s runoff election, causing him to be ousted from his role as Senate Majority Leader, but he also lost his stalemate against Democrats to protect the filibuster. And now, a new Gallup poll finds his approval ratings are circling the drain.
The poll, which was conducted between January 4 and 15, found that 64 percent of the 1,023 respondents held an unfavorable view of Senate Minority Leader. This was up 18 points from similar polling last February, which found 48 percent held an unfavorable view of him.
But it doesn’t stop there.
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Related: Mitch McConnell can’t bring himself to say “Minority Leader” so he’s calling himself something else
McConnell also saw his ratings tank among members of his own party, with just 42 percent of Republicans saying they liked the guy, down from 69 percent who said they liked him just one year ago.
He hasn’t seen numbers this bad since 2017.
Depending how things go with Donald Trump‘s second impeachment trial, McConnell could see his popularity plummet even further since a Monmouth University poll found that the majority of Americans want to see Trump convicted in the Senate and barred from holding future federal office
Of course, whether McConnell cares about any of this is up for debate. He did just win reelection, securing himself another six years in the Senate. Although with Democrats in control of all three branches of government, and with Republicans seeing a mass exodus of voters leaving their party, his job is definitely going to be a lot less fun.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
cuteguy
He doesn’t care. He will flip flop and go back to kissing Trump’s ring, just like Kevin McCaethy, and Lindsay Graham, and Marco Rubio, and the rest. He is the minority leader of a party of ppl with no backbones. I truly hope the Democrats learn from their past mistakes and get better messaging out and take advantage of this vulnerability in the Republican Party. I’m not a fan of Nancy Pelosi but her message of “the enemy is within” is much more effective than the proven failed Dem slogan “defund the police”
Kangol2
Defund the Police is not a “Dem slogan,” it’s a slogan by people on the radical left, neo-Abolitionists, that is more complex than it appears but which also was used to attack mainstream Democrats. Most Democratic politicians across the country actually go out of their way to coddle cops, including ones who murder with impunity.
Heywood Jablowme
Next he’ll be in the hospital for a cracked carapace!
“Although with Democrats in control of all three branches of government….” – Oh Queerty, WHY do you keep making this mistake? Unfortunately, the Supreme Court will be Republican for many decades to come.
woodroad34
Which would be kismet….after inciting violence from his party. And once they’ve smelled blood, there’s no going back. His party is an actual killer now; and they use to worry about death panels–that was just projection.
GayEGO
Not if Biden packs SCOTUS with 4 progressive justices.
Openminded
GayEgo, Packing Scotus sounds like a good idea, but, if Biden adds 4 justices to Scotus, the next time Republicans are in office, they will just pull the same trick to tilt the court in their favor. If this ever starts there will be no stopping it and we will end up with a SCOTUS that looks like parliament. I agree, SCOTUS is leaning to the right so far it’s about to tip over, and it needs to be rebalanced, but packing the court is not the answer.
Creamsicle
McConnell is a lifelong opportunist. He won’t change anything about his tune. He’s going to be 80 by the time he needs to even think about re-election, and his human skin suit is already starting to rot.
Cam
It would be nice if somebody would investigate how a Senator worth a few hundred thousand when he first got the job is now worth 30 million.
Monkey1
Thank you! I 100% agree with you. Every polititian needs to be held accountable and their finances investigated on a yearly basis.
JamesBDallas
I certainly agree with everyone about how useless Mitch is, but unfortunately there is no scandal behind his change in net worth. His mother-in-law passed away and his wife received a very nice inheritance. I wish it was some big scandal that would oust him from office. I don’t think he cares because he knows he is not going to live.
Kangol2
He married a very rich woman, Elaine Chao, whose family owns a shipping company, Foremost Group. Chao is an heiress to the family fortune, which is considerable.
Monkey1
Ah ok. Makes sense. But there are suspicious wealth … Biden for example. Never made more thaen $200K/yr and now is worth multi-millions. Nancy Pelosi with her $180million, i think she’s the richest member of congress. Republicans Rick Scott & Greg Gianforte. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for every member of congress to have to go through a financial audit. In the UK where I was born and grew up, and now Canada where I currently live, I don’t really know of any polititian making millions from the job.
Cam
@JamesBDallas
1. Were inheritance taxes paid?
2. While she was transporation secretary McConnell’s wife made deals with China, and her family just HAPPENS to own a transport company that has routes to and from…..China.
Investigations are definitely needed.
Cam
@Monkey1
Oh! You ALMOST did it troll! You ALMOST put up a non troll posting. But you just couldn’t help yourself and you had to put up the second posting trying to deflect away from evil Mitch McConnell onto Democrats AND lie about where you’re from.
I mean, REALLY, if you’re going to pretend to be from a country, you could at least look up some of the history there.
1. Britain has MANY multipmillionaire politicians, they still have a noble class in Britain who have been fleecing the public for ages, also there have been multiple cash for influence scandals there.
2. Canada has multiple cash scandals and many multi millionaires as politicians.
I’d say nice try…..but I just can’t bring myself to compliment you falsely.
darklight413
Look at him! He’s literally dissolving from the inside! This much evil can’t be contained in human form for long.
Liquid Silver
I doubt he’s concerned. He’s old enough to retire, he can screw up the Biden Presidency with filibusters on any decent bill, and he no longer cares anyway. He never really did.
Openminded
He, along with a lot of DC politicians are good examples of why we need term limits. The hunger for power keeps them going and the power just grows every time they get reelected. The new blood that voters send to make changes gets told to either get with the program or we won’t let you play. It’s a shame how both parties vote only down party lines instead of their individual conscience.
Cam
@Openminded
LOL!!! Roy Ajas and Monkey1’s other screename is here to attempt to sound reasonable, but then has to “Both Sides” on a post about Mitch McConnell.
But it’s adorable that after I called you out as a right wing troll, you show up under the exact same screenames and try to soften your posts to skate by. Dance puppet DANCE!
RandomGuy
McConnell’s wealthy father in law who is deeply involved in his home countries government has bailed him out twice and has been paying him for years Cam that’s why he’s so wealthy and will stay wealthy until he is of no further use to Elaine’s family and she arranges for him to have another “fall” at home.
GayEGO
Now that his wife walked out of our government, she may just have McConnell slip and fall at home….again!
Cam
Seems like that should fall under the gift tax laws. Be interesting to have a forensic accountant really dig into the McConnell’s accounts.
Thad
I don’t think this poll was taken in Kentucky. It’s surprising, but Kentuckians will reelect Moscow Mitch time and again. Many believe he’s done a lot of good for the state.
Kentucky isn’t all unreconstructed rednecks. It led the USA getting computers into schools. There’s a diverse economy. But McConnell has them fooled.
johnnymcmxxx
The Democrats will need to do everything they want to do within 2 years because they may lose their House & Senate majority in 2 years. There is often a backlash when one party controls all 3 branches of Government. It happened to trump in ‘18. It happened to Obama in ‘10 & it happened to Clinton in ‘94. The Dems need to stick together like the Repubes do or else very little will pass. No infighting this time bitches.
Den
The house and the senate are both parts of the same branch of government, the Legislative branch. The third branch is the Judicial, which is currently (and sadly) controlled by regressives.
So while it is true that either the house or senate MAY fall back to Republicans in the midterms (voters seem to like that split for some reason, perhaps thinking nostalgically that it will encourage compromise as it did many years ago rather than the typical right wing obstructionism it leads to now); The democratic Party does not currently control “all three branches of government”. I wish they did!
Kangol2
The Democrats only control two branches of the US Government, the Executive (Biden) and the Legislative (House by a thin margin, Senate by a hair). They do not control the Judicial branch, whether at the Supreme Court level (Republicans/ultraconservatives 6 to 3 liberals) or at the lower levels (Appellate, Circuit, etc.) for that matter. Queerty keeps making this error, but your larger point about Democrats facing challenges in the midterms is key. On the other hand, if swing-state Republicans in the Senate keep retiring and if the GOP remains divided between Don the Q-Anon supporters and mainstream Republicans, they could harm themselves. It’s happened before in US history.
Cam
Republicans have a terrible Senate map in 2022. They have 20 seats to defend compared to 14 seats for Dems and some are in states Trump lost like WI and PA. Additionally Rob Portman is retiring which throws Ohio’s seat up in the air.
LMG
As Rick Wilson so aptly put it: “Democrats bring a soup ladle to a gun fight.” Schumer blew it again. He let Mitch soft soap him into postponing the trial of Trump until after the Inauguration. Now the Repooplicans are using the excuse that you cannot impeach T because he’s a private citizen. The trial should have begun no later than the 13th of January if not sooner. The Rs were still in shock then by what happened at the Capitol. The delay gave them time to recover. Now they’re back under Lard Ass’s thumb or ass. Kevin McCarthy makes my skin crawl almost as much as Cruz, Graham, Hawley, Rubio, or Scott does. Birds of a feather do flock together even when covered with heaps of guano. PU!
Den
Almost all constitutional scholars feel that one can still hold an impeachment trial after a president is out of office as the constitution says nothing to imply one can’t, and some of the punishments relate to compensation and the ability to run for future office which only come into play after the president is out of office.
As always the right relies on its imagination for factual support rather than actual facts.
Kangol2
I agree with you about the delay in the trial but there was nothing Schumer could do until he actually took over power, which involved a struggle because of the 50-50 split. He could not force the trial date. I was initially worried about Don the Q-anon possibly testifying, but the Democrats could really do the country quite a service if they subpoena some of the right-wing fascist coup insurrection participants (Chansley, etc.) who said they were following Don the Q-anon’s orders, and have them say this under oath on live TV. That would force the GOP’s hands, since they have been trying their best to dissociate themselves from the coup participants while rehabbing Don the Q-anon. Lindsey Graham is already freaking out about this possibility. I don’t put it past the Dems to screw this up, but they could make this quite a teachable moment if they plan things out right. It cannot be a repeat of January-February 2020, however correct and effective their arguments were in that impeachment trial.
Openminded
I can’t help but believe Trump has dirty laundry on so many in both parties that although many talk a good game to nail him, they actually have their hands tied when it comes to actual punishment. The “can’t try a private citizen for impeachment” is B.S. IMO. He was “served” while in office so I would think even the right heavy SCOTUS would rule that he is due a trial. Politically, Trump came to the “dance” too quickly and without an invitation to have as much political loyalty as he appears to hold. History shows that both parties have always been quick to dump and distance from toxic politicians, yet the high ranking Repubs are still trying to maintain ties to him. Trumps ability to still be in the room defies logic which leads me to think there is a nefarious reason he is still being allowed to stick around. That reason ain’t because he’s a good President, well liked, or a good person, so that points to something none of them want the public to know about.
dlb_nyc
Democrats are not in control of “all three branches of government.” As we learned in elementary school, there are 3 branches of government: Executive, Legislative, Judicial. The Dems are in control of 2 of the 3.
Andy
I cringe when I see people think that the Senate and the House are two of the three branches when its just one, the legislative branch. Ok, I’ve said enough, thank you and have a great weekend everyone.
dhmonarch89
he just got re elected for 6 years- he’s not worried about his popularity! If he runs again, he’ll put some effort into Kentucky people maybe hating him less, but he doesn’t care what the nation thinks.
nm4047
I don’t think he is in fear of loosing his well paid job, has been in the role for long enough that his retirement income in 1 year will be more than the income the average guy/girl will receive in their entire (if they) can retired life. Has equally achieved what was required, eg stacking of the supreme court with like mind conservative conies.
Josh447
If the senate does not convict Trump, the R party can kiss its a*s*s goodbye, for a very, very, long time.
Monkey1
It seems like the Republican party is close to done. There has to be major changes whether T is convicted or not.
Josh447
Agreed. And I’m afraid the spell cannot be undone to the many infected.
Much culling to be done.
Openminded
Monkey 1. I agree that the Repubs appear to be in shambles right now and it still amazes me how large a percentage of them still believe in Trump. That said, I can’t help but recall an article I read during Obama’s last 4 years by a left leaning political scholar which listed nothing but gloom and doom for the Democrat party at that time. He went into detail on how everything was stacking up wrong for the future of the party and by his accounts, the party was about to begin the death spiral. The party did in fact succumb to many of his predictions but now it appears to have rebounded beautifully. My point is, even when you are certain you have the opponent beat, never turn your back, because he may just rebound also. I don’t mean this to be a threat or sound like a claim that the Repubs are going to take over next election. It’s just a warning for a reality check to not let your guard down. We all remember when same sex marriage was federally affirmed and how empowered the LGBTQ community felt, only to roller coaster down thru Trumps threats and hopefully coaster back up under Biden’s watch. I guess what this old man is trying to say is, nothing lasts for ever. Not the good or the bad. But by all means, enjoy it while you can for as long as you can and always strive to keep it good.
missvamp
Turtle man just needs to die already.
Openminded
Think how differently history would be written if he had succumbed to his bout with Covid-19.
It would have been the simple answer to a complex problem
Bravobr1
Why has this dumb old coot not been fired from his position, he does not give a crap about anyone else but himself.
When are you going to learn America that this self righteous turkey neck coffin dodger is only looking after himself, not you. And you have put him back in the position for another 6 years !!! You might learn by your mistakes one of these days.
He is the most vile excuse for a human being, other than Trump.