Favorability for Congressional Leaders Steadily Declines

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  • Vice President J.D. Vance is viewed favorably by 46% of voters and unfavorably by 48%.
    • Opinions have slipped since December’s high, when Vance’s favorables were at 50%, and his unfavorables were at 44%.
    • Current numbers are similar to those in November and October.
    • Eighty-five percent (85%) of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Vance compared to just 12% of Democrats.
  • Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, is viewed favorably by 31% and unfavorably by 33%.
    • This is the same as last month and down 2 points from the 33% favorability he had from August to November.
    • His unfavorable rating has also been trending down: down 2 points from last month’s 35% and 2 more points from November’s 37%.
    • As expected, 54% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Johnson, but only 14% of Democrats have the same view.
  • Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, has a favorable review of 26% and an unfavorable review of 34%.
    • Perhaps because Jeffries is the minority leader, his favorability numbers steadily rose from a low of 21% 2 years ago.
    • Over the past year, his favorability ratings have gone up and down, beginning with 32% in January, a high of 36% in July.
    • Recently, his favorability declined from 29% in November to 27% in December to January’s 26%.
    • Many voters (40%) have never heard of Jeffries or don’t know enough to have an opinion.
  • Most voters (57%) still either have not heard of, or do not know enough about Senate Majority Leader John Thune to have an opinion.
    • He is viewed favorably by 18%, and unfavorably by 24%.
    • Both numbers are 3-point decreases from a month ago.
  • Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been in office since 1999 and is relatively well known.
    • He is viewed favorably by 24%, a 3-point drop from a month ago.
    • Schumer is viewed unfavorably by 48%, the same as last month.
    • Even among Democrats, Schumer has low ratings, with 42% Favorable and 27% Unfavorable.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, January 28-29, 2026 RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.