Report: Following Speaker Battle, Approval of Republicans in Congress at 12%

The October 2023 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,112 registered voters in the United States about Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and trust in the Republican and Democratic Parties to handle issues facing the United States.

Views of Government

Following recent turmoil in the United States House of Representatives around the selection of a new Speaker of the House by the Republican majority, just 12% of Americans approve of the way Republicans in Congress are handling their jobs. Republican voters generally disapprove of their own congressional leaders: 42% disapprove to 27% approve. Independents (76% disapprove) and Democrats (95% disapprove) give overwhelmingly negative ratings to Republicans in Congress.

Democrats in Congress are viewed more favorably: 32% of voters approve and 55% disapprove of the way Democrats in Congress are handling their jobs. Among Democratic voters, 69% approve and 15% disapprove of how Democratic leaders in Congress are handling their jobs.

President Joe Biden’s job approval rating remains in the high-30s at the end of October 2023. With little change over the past 12 months, Biden currently stands at 37% approve and 55% disapprove, with 8% saying they neither approve nor disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president.

More Americans have a favorable opinion of President Biden than approve of his job performance. Biden is currently seen favorably by 40% of voters. In contrast, 38% of Americans have a favorable opinion of former president Donald Trump. Political independents have negative views of both Biden and Trump: Independents view Biden unfavorably by a margin of 62% unfavorable to 30% favorable; Independents view Trump unfavorably by a margin of 55% unfavorable to 36% favorable.

Civiqs updates daily polling of President Biden’s job approval rating, Biden’s favorable rating, and Trump’s favorable rating at civiqs.com.

National Mood

Americans are not happy with how things are going in the United States today. The dominant feeling, with 29% of Americans, is “angry”. Another 19% describe themselves as “depressed,” and 18% are “scared”. Only 12% of Americans feel “hopeful” -- and almost none describe themselves as “excited” (1%) or “proud” (1%) when thinking about the United States today.

Republicans are the most negative: 44% of Republicans describe themselves as angry; 22% say they are depressed, and 19% are scared. Frequent Fox News viewers are extremely negative: 51% describe themselves as angry about the direction of the United States, 22% are scared, and 11% feel depressed.

Democrats are more hopeful; especially older Democrats. Among Democrats over age 65, the most common feeling about the United States (39%) is “hopeful”. Just 12% of Democrats aged 18-34 describe themselves as hopeful. Younger Democrats are more likely to call themselves angry (21%), depressed (22%), or scared (15%).

Trust in Democrats or Republicans

The survey asked voters whether they trust Democrats or Republicans more on national security; the economy; protecting voting rights and democracy; telling the truth; and governing effectively. The results are mixed and highly polarized by voters’ partisan identification.

By narrow margins, more voters trust the Democratic Party over the Republican Party on voting rights, governing, and truthfulness. On protecting voting rights and democracy, 47% of Americans trust Democrats more; while 40% trust Republicans more. Democrats are also trusted more than Republicans to govern effectively, 43% to 37%, although 19% say they trust neither party.

More voters trust Democrats (37%) than Republicans (26%) to tell them the truth. However, 34% of voters do not trust either party to tell the truth. Distrust in the Democratic and Republican Parties is greatest (51%) among self-identified Independent voters. Many younger Democrats and Republicans are also distrustful of the two parties: 26% of Democrats aged 18-34, and 43% of Republicans aged 18-34 say that they do not trust either party to tell them the truth.

On the issues of national security and the economy, voters give the edge to Republicans. By a margin of 42% to 40%, voters say they trust Republicans more with national security. A similarly slim margin of Americans (43% to 40%) trust the Republican Party more than the Democratic Party to handle the economy.

Civiqs surveyed 1,112 registered voters in the United States from October 28-31, 2023. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.09. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.