6 in 10 say incumbent congressional rep deserves reelection: poll

The majority of Americans said their congressional representative should be reelected in November, according to a new Gallup poll.

Six in 10 surveyed Americans said their local representative deserves reelection, marking the highest level of support for incumbent representatives since 2012, according to Gallup. 

In 2018, just 50 percent of Americans said their local representative should be reelected, according to Gallup. 

Americans, however, are less likely to say the same about other members of Congress, with just 35 percent saying they think most representatives deserve to be reelected in November.

Support for the reelection of local representatives was similar among parties, with 61 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 60 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents saying their representatives deserve reelection.

But voters differed along party lines on whether the majority of other members of Congress should be reelected, according to Gallup. 

The poll found 43 percent of Democrats said most members deserve reelection, while just 29 percent of Republicans said the same. Democrats took the majority in the House in 2018.

Results for the poll are based on telephone interviews conducted between Jan. 16 and Jan. 29 from a random sample of 1,033 adults. The results are based on the total sample of national adults and carry a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.