Congressional leaders' approval ratings underwater in new poll

The nation's top congressional leaders are not very popular, a new poll suggests.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are all underwater as they gear up for battles over federal spending and President Trump's agenda in the coming weeks.

The CNN/SSRS poll released Tuesday found that none of the four polled higher than 23 percent favorable.

Asked generally about congressional leadership slates, 60 percent of respondents said they disapprove of how the GOP's leaders are handling their jobs in Congress, while 37 percent said they approve. More than 70 percent of the people surveyed said they disapprove of Democratic leadership and 27 percent said they approve.

But the poll found that individually, Johnson, Jeffries and Thune — all of whom ascended to top leadership roles in the past two years — remain largely unknown among the broader public. Those who said they were familiar with them were more likely to view them negatively than positively.

About 43 percent of respondents said they had never heard of or had no opinion about Johnson, the second in line to the presidency, including 38 percent of the Republicans and Republican-leaning independents polled. The House GOP approved Johnson for the role in 2023, after a tumultuous leadership revolt in the caucus.

More than half of respondents (52 percent) said they had never heard of or had no opinion of Jeffries, who took the reins of the House Democrats in 2023 after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stepped down from leadership. That includes 47 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents surveyed.

Thune, who ascended to the top of the Senate GOP ranks in November when the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in U.S. history, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), opted not to continue in the role he held for nearly two decades, was the least known among the leaders. Sixty-one percent of all respondents said they had never heard of or had no opinion of him, including 57 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning independent respondents.

Schumer, who has led the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017, was the most known, according to the poll's findings, but 39 percent of respondents still said they never heard of or had no opinion of him.

The four congressional leaders will shape floor debates leading into the 2026 midterm election cycle and as Trump presses for major legislation, including a "big, beautiful bill" to advance his major policy proposals. All of their unfavorable ratings increased from the last time CNN polled opinions of them in January.

About a third of respondents (32 percent) in the CNN poll said they had an unfavorable opinion of Johnson, while 23 percent said they viewed him favorably; 27 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Jeffries to 20 percent who rated him favorably; Thune polled at 24 percent unfavorable to 16 percent favorable; and 44 percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Schumer, while 19 percent said they view him favorably.

Favorable opinions outweighed the unfavorable for each when narrowed only to respondents who identify with their parties, the poll found. Johnson polled most favorably among Republicans and right-leaning independents, as 51 percent said they had a positive opinion of him, compared to 10 percent who said they had a negative view of him. Among Democrats and left-leaning independents, 42 percent had a favorable opinion of Jeffries to 11 percent unfavorable. Thirty-four percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had a favorable opinion of Thune, compared to 8 percent unfavorable.

Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were near-evenly split over their views on Schumer, with 31 percent favorable and 30 percent unfavorable.

The latest polling on legislative leaders comes as Trump has faced his own rocky polling 100 days into his second term. The 100-day point is generally viewed as a symbolic benchmark for a president's new term.

Several major polling outlets have released polls this week showing Trump's job approval rating has sagged since he returned to the White House in January, prompting the president to lash out at pollsters this week.

"These people should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD," Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social, specifically calling out new findings from Fox News, ABC, The New York Times and The Washington Post. "They are Negative Criminals who apologize to their subscribers and readers after I WIN ELECTIONS BIG, much bigger than their polls showed I would win, loose a lot of credibility, and then go on cheating and lying for the next cycle, only worse."

The CNN poll surveyed 1,678 adults across the country April 17-24. It has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. For results broken down by party and party-leaning respondents, the margin of error is about 4.4 percentage points.