House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has announced her intentions to run again as speaker if her party regains control after the November midterm elections.
Scott McGrew, an anchor for NBC's San Francisco news affiliate, admitted that is bad news for Democrats.
"This may not be good news for Democrats," he said. "Republicans use Pelosi as a cudgel in their ads to convince people not to vote for Democrats, and they're not wrong," McGrew said. "We might like Nancy Pelosi in the Bay Area, but America doesn't."He listed a few things and people that are more popular than Pelosi, according to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, including the NRA, Paul Ryan, even President Donald Trump.
Surveys tell only part of the story. A look at local races across the country show Democratic candidates increasingly distancing themselves from Pelosi in their campaigns. A group of candidates in Arizona were asked whether they would support Pelosi as speaker. They all refused to raise their hands.
Capitol Hill Democrats, meanwhile, have subtly scolded the minority leader for dismissing employee bonuses that have resulted from the GOP tax reform as "crumbs." Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) all told the press they would not have used that term.
"Language is important, and we have to be very careful that we don’t insult people by saying that the amount of money they get is crumbs," Cleaver noted.
Other top Democrats like Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) said, "where I come from, everything makes a difference."
Pelosi was also heckled for those remarks by constituents at town hall events.
With her questionable rhetoric and lack of support across the country, do the Democrats really want to give her another vote of confidence?