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New Poll Finds Voters' Opinion Of Republicans Has Plummeted–And It's Jan. 6th All Over Again

Civiqs favorability poll finds The Republican Party at 26% Favorability and 64% Unfavorability, which match levels seen just after the January 6th attacks.

Kevin McCarthy surrounded by fellow Republicans
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

We're scarcely three weeks into the New Year and it's become very clear that the majority of Americans are not fans of the Republican Party.

In the days after far-right House Republicans led a rebellion designed to block their Leader Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, the online polling company Civiqs noted that the Republican Party's favorability rating plunged to just 26 percent and that its unfavorability rating spiked to 64 percent among registered voters, which is where the party's ratings remain as of January 15th.

These numbers indicate every sign that the party is in crisis and are reminiscent of the aftermath of the January 6th attacks, which is the last time the party's unfavorability rating was as high as 64%.

A graph showing the Republican Party's favorability and unfavorability over time is available below.

A Civiqs graph tracking favorability and unfavorability ratings for the Republican PartyCiviqs

Another graph includes the same data but with an emphasis on net favorability.

A Civiqs graph tracking favorability and unfavorability ratings for the Republican PartyCiviqs

The country's feelings toward the GOP become even clearer once you delve further into the data.

For instance, the data set below presents the party's favorability and unfavorability ratings in relation to age demographics and shows that the party's unfavorability rating is high among all age groups, particularly those between the ages of 18 and 34.

However, it also shows that the party is viewed negatively by a majority of voters aged 65 and above, a group the GOP consistently panders to and relies on for votes every two years.

A Civiqs graph tracking favorability and unfavorability ratings for the Republican Party by ageCiviqs

And if you look even closer, you can see that according to the following two graphs, Republicans are viewed unfavorably by the majority of men as well as the majority of independents, two other groups the GOP often courts.

A Civiqs graph tracking favorability and unfavorability ratings for the Republican Party by genderCiviqs

A Civiqs graph tracking favorability and unfavorability ratings for the Republican Party by political partyCiviqs

The line graph below shows that the GOP's drop in favorability among Republican men has been disastrous since November's midterm elections.

This group cost the GOP a 13-point hit since Election Day, from 75 percent then to 62 percent over the weekend of January 8, a sign that Republican men have been quite displeased with the party's failure to make its projected "red wave" a reality.

A Civiqs graph tracking favorability and unfavorability ratings for the Republican Party by genderCiviqs

The GOP's favorability rating suffered a similar drop shortly after Trump lost the 2020 general election. The difference now, as noted by Daily Kos, "is that they will no longer have unified Democratic control of government to serve as a foil for their own incompetence."

And no one seems surprised.



Republicans have been hemorrhaging voters for some time and older data sets from other companies show their loss is unsurprising in hindsight.

For instance, in late October 2022, mere days before the midterms, the Axios midterm dashboard showed issues such as crime, immigration, and inflation—issues that are typically favorable to Republicans—were in the bottom half of Google searches.

At the time, Axios noted that while issues like inflation, gas prices and immigration still maintained "a relatively high interest," they "have not spiked notably over the past week or so." Crime, for instance, had dropped from No. 10 to No. 11 on a list of most searched topics even though interest in crime remains relatively steady among Republicans, for whom it is a cornerstone issue.