• Polling

Nearly Three in Five Americans Describe the Republican Party as “Extreme”

Wednesday, January 18, 2023 By Bryan Bennett
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Welcome to NAVIGATOR – a project designed to better understand the American public’s views on issues of the day and help advocates, elected officials, and other interested parties understand the language, imagery, and messaging needed to make and win key policy arguments.
Key takeaways
  • Opinions of Biden’s job performance overall and on the economy have improved slightly since November.
  • Democrats are more trusted on a range of issues including abortion, health care, and Social Security/Medicare, while Republicans retain narrow advantages on inflation and crime.
  • More Americans describe the Republican Party as “extreme” than the Democratic Party

Biden’s Job Approval Overall and on the Economy Have Ticked Up Since Mid-November

Biden’s overall job approval rating (net -6 approve now, up from -11 in November) and his economic approval rating (net -13 now, up from -18) have both improved modestly by 5 points since mid-November.

Biden and Democrats More Trusted on Range of Issues, Including Health Care and Ensuring the Government Runs Smoothly

Biden and Democrats are more trusted by double digits on abortion (net +19), health care (+16), Social Security/Medicare (+17), and democracy (+14). They are also more trusted to “ensure the government runs smoothly” by 5 points.

  • Republicans hold slight advantages on crime (net +4 GOP, down from net +8 in October) and inflation (net +7, down from net +10).

House Minority Leader Jeffries Remains Largely Unknown, Though There’s Been a Modest Increase in Name Recognition

Jeffries’ name recognition has increased from 33% in mid-November to 42% now, as opinions diverge along partisan lines: his net favorability has increased by 7 points among Democrats (from net +20 to net +27) and decreased by 9 points among Republicans (from net -18 to net -27).

Nearly Three in Five Americans See Republicans as Extreme; Fewer Say the Same of the Democratic Party

By a 23-point margin, Americans see the Republican Party as extreme, compared to a smaller 8-point margin for the Democratic Party.

  • There has been a 5-point increase in the share of independents who say the Democratic Party is extreme since September (from net +23 extreme to net +28), matched by a 5-point increase in the share who say the Republican Party is extreme (from +20 to +25).

More Democrats Than Republicans See Their Own Party Looking Out for Them; Independents Say Neither Party Is

By a 38-point margin, Democrats think their party is looking out for people like them “all” or “most of the time,” while Republicans think their party is generally looking out for people like them by just a 21-point margin.

About The Study

Global Strategy Group conducted public opinion surveys among a sample of 1,000 registered voters from January 5-January 9, 2023. 100 additional interviews were conducted among Hispanic voters. 74 additional interviews were conducted among Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. 100 additional interviews were conducted among African American voters. 101 additional interviews were conducted among independent voters.

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About Navigator

In a world where the news cycle is the length of a tweet, our leaders often lack the real-time public-sentiment analysis to shape the best approaches to talking about the issues that matter the most. Navigator is designed to act as a consistent, flexible, responsive tool to inform policy debates by conducting research and reliable guidance to inform allies, elected leaders, and the press. Navigator is a project led by pollsters from Global Strategy Group and GBAO along with an advisory committee, including: Andrea Purse, progressive strategist; Arkadi Gerney, The Hub Project; Joel Payne, The Hub Project; Christina Reynolds, EMILY’s List; Delvone Michael, Working Families; Felicia Wong, Roosevelt Institute; Mike Podhorzer, AFL-CIO; Jesse Ferguson, progressive strategist; Navin Nayak, Center for American Progress Action Fund; Stephanie Valencia, EquisLabs; and Melanie Newman, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

For press inquiries contact: press@navigatorresearch.org