Monmouth Poll: GOP Takes Massive Congressional Lead, Biden Hits New Approval Low

We’ve touched on the generic congressional ballot polling recently, and all signs point to a Republican tsunami crashing down on Washington come November. New numbers out from a Monmouth University poll this week reinforce that narrative giving the GOP its highest edge ever at this point in the cycle, another polling trend that started breaking back in October.

Furthermore, Monmouth finds that President Biden’s approval number has sunk to a record low in their polling, finally dropping out of the forties and hitting a soft 39%.

The way Monmouth phrases and parses their generic ballot question looks as if it’s meant to soften the blow for Democrats, but the numbers are terrible:

The public is almost evenly split between saying they would rather see the Republicans (35%) or the Democrats (33%) in control of Congress. However, pushing those who initially say party control does not matter on which direction they lean adds 15% to the GOP column versus a smaller 10% for the Democrats.

What they mean, after doing the math, is that the GOP leads the question by 50% to 43%, a seven-point margin which is an unheard-of edge for Republicans this far out from Election Day.

As far as approval goes, neither party really wins on having a positive view from voters, but Democrats are getting the short end of that stick right now because they’re the ones in charge screwing things up.

With failures at every level for Biden, in terms of his legislative agenda and numerous domestic issues still festering, there just isn’t anything for Democrats to get excited about or a reason to keep bitterly clinging to the hope much will be accomplished between now and November.

The poll also finds more voters now identifying as Republican than any other point at this time in the cycle as well. Biden’s numbers are stinking so badly that many of his voters are jumping ship entirely and don’t even want to call themselves “Democrats” anymore.

The past three months have been brutal for the White House, and the trend may have hit a peak in January. Only the February numbers will tell but Biden’s bound to get some good rebound if Covid cases fall despite his best efforts to badly bungle and mangle the federal Covid response.

Perhaps the most depressing aspect for Democrats is how their Build Back Better framework never caught on with the public. No one is clamoring for $5 trillion in domestic spending, even with the economy limping along. By the time October hit, and the record inflation reports started popping in the news, it seems like Biden’s chances of passing some significant “new deal” type of legislation died on the table.

There is simply no truthful way to look voters in the eyes and tell them that spending trillions more on domestic programs will somehow improve the economy and help inflation. It’s dishonest and it’s delusional, but Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi tried for months to move the ball unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, other issues got worse and Biden continued to seem out of touch.

So, here we are in January of an election year, and Democratic poll numbers are in the toilet. Biden’s first year was a bust, Democrats are set to lose big in Congress, and the winner in all this is probably Donald Trump.


Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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