The U.S. House of Republicans saw Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy historically voted out, marking a first in Congress.
Mike Johnson (R-La.), the congressman who replaced him, could face the same fate with threats from a leading Republican congresswoman.
What Happened: Johnson became the 56th Speaker of the House after several votes and candidates failed to get the required support.
Congress could face the task of picking a new speaker of the house again if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) carries through with threats to force a vote to oust Johnson.
Greene has become upset with Johnson over his support for Ukraine funding, which has led to name-calling and labeling her Republican counterpart as a Democrat and someone who doesn't support Republican values.
While Greene doesn't support Johnson and wants him gone, Republican voters don't appear to feel the same way.
A recent Morning Consult poll of registered Republican voters showed Johnson with higher favorable ratings than unfavorable ratings.
Here were the results from a March 31 poll, with results from October 29, 2023, in parentheses.
Favorable: 38% (32%)
Unfavorable: 16% (14%)
Heard Of, No Opinion: 20% (25%)
Never Heard Of: 25% (29%)
The poll illustrated that Johnson gained more for his favorability than his unfavorable ranking. A poll asking the same question on March 11 saw Johnson's favorable rating hit a high of 47%, his highest since becoming Speaker of the House.
Republican voters appear to either not know who Johnson is or be favorable of him, with a small amount ranking him as unfavorable and likely not sharing the opinion of Greene that a new Speaker of the House is needed.
Why It's Important: The poll also found that only 5% ranked Johnson as very unfavorable, which ranked him lower than several other Republican politicians.
Former President Donald Trump scored a 17% unfavorable rating in the same poll of Republican voters, with 9% having a very unfavorable rating.
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is the Senate Minority Leader, received an unfavorable rating of 44%, with 22% ranking him as very unfavorable.
A question about Republicans in Congress as a group saw an unfavorable rating of 19%, with 6% choosing very unfavorable.
While Johnson didn't score as high as Trump or Republicans in Congress for favorability, he outranked both with receiving lower overall unfavorable ratings and very unfavorable ratings.
Photo: Mike Johnson photo by Allen J.M. Smith on Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.