Americans favor Pelosi more than McConnell, poll shows

Americans have a more favorable view of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) than her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll. 

Forty-one percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of Pelosi, with 15 percent labeling the longtime Democratic leader as “very favorable” and 26 percent saying she was “favorable.” 

In comparison, 28 percent of those surveyed said they had a favorable view of McConnell, with 7 percent calling him “very favorable” and 21 percent referring to him as “favorable.” 

Both of the leaders exhibited relative high unfavorable ratings, with 40 percent saying they had an unfavorable view of Pelosi and 39 percent saying the same of McConnell. 

The poll comes as both leaders start the 116th Congress amid an ongoing government shutdown that has continued for more than two weeks. 

The White House and Democrats have been unable to strike a deal to reopen parts of the federal government.

President Trump has requested $5 billion in funding to construct a border wall, but Democrats have offered $1.3 billion in border security measures. 

While Pelosi has been a vocal negotiator for Democrats in the fight over wall funding, McConnell has remained largely quiet on the issue. 

“What’s interesting is that McConnell has stood back from the fight over the wall and the government shutdown,” political analyst Bill Schneider told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking” on Monday. “He hasn’t been much in evidence recently, maybe because he realizes, this is a losing cause for Republicans.”

The latest Hill-HarrisX survey was conducted Jan. 5-6 and is part of an ongoing project of The Hill’s online TV division, Hill.TV, and the HarrisX polling company that asks 1,000 registered voters a day about issues of public policy and current events. The latest poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

— Julia Manchester