1 year ago
38
Natalie Jackson/National Journal:
Either 59% or 22% of Republicans want a speaker loyal to Trump. Which is it?
The same pollster yields wildly different responses by changing the question format.
The items on the trait list selected by two-thirds or more of Republicans as important were generic leadership traits—“strong leader,” “trustworthy,” “ethical,” and “intelligent”—while items directly about the politics of the speakership, including the Trump-loyalty item, were chosen by less than a third of Republicans.
The preference for generic over political items is an indicator that even Republicans aren’t paying a ton of attention to the specific issue. The Economist’s poll also showed that only 28 percent of Republicans were paying “a lot” of attention to McCarthy’s removal, and while 3 in 4 Republicans had heard of McCarthy and could give an opinion on him, around 4 in 10 hadn’t heard of the alternatives—Scalise or Rep. Jim Jordan.
Jim Jordan won’t automatically sink the GOP without campaigning against what he stands for, because, well, most people don’t know who their Senators are.
On the other hand, Jordan is easy to campaign against, because of what he stands for. And a campaign against what he stands for will happen. Just not yet.
