When it comes to choosing sides in the fight between President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a majority of Republican voters support the president.
According to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, 60 percent of Republican voters believe President Trump is more in touch with the GOP, while 16 percent believed McConnell was more in touch.
The president also led McConnell in who voters believed was more trustworthy, with 55 percent saying Trump and 14 percent choosing McConnell.
Trump has been critical of McConnell since the Senate’s failure to pass the ‘skinny’ repeal of Obamacare.
“Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn't get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” he said earlier this month on Twitter.
The president also tweeted that McConnell should “get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing.”
McConnell accused the president of having “excessive expectations” for his agenda.
“Now our new president has of course not been in this line of work before. And I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process,” McConnell told the Florence Rotary Club in Kentucky this month.
“And so, part of the reason I think people feel like we’re underperforming is because too many artificial deadlines unrelated to the reality and the complexity of legislature may not have been fully understood.”
Trump even suggested the majority leader step down if he can’t get his agenda accomplished.
“If he doesn’t get repeal and replace done and if he doesn’t get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure, if he doesn’t get them done, then you can ask me that question,” Trump told reporters at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club.
Half of Republicans thought the president’s criticisms of McConnell were warranted. Thirty-two percent disagreed.
Voters also said President Trump is more conservative than McConnell, 50-25 percent.
The survey of 1,997 registered voters was conducted from Aug. 10-14.
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