America's 3 most popular federal leaders
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Chief Justice John Roberts. Photo: Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Just three of 11 federal leaders were viewed positively in a Gallup poll released Monday.
The big picture: Chief Justice John Roberts received the highest approval rating, followed by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and NIAID director Anthony Fauci.
By the numbers: Roberts received a 60% approval rating. He was the only leader to receive bipartisan majority support, with 55% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans saying they approved of his handling of his job.
- Powell had a 53% approval rating and Fauci received 52% approval.
- About 85% of Democrats approved of Fauci, while 19% of Republicans and 48% of Independents said the same.
- About 67% of Democrats approved of Powell, while 30% of Republicans and 55% of Independents said the same.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) received the lowest approval rating with 34% of those surveyed saying they approved of how he's handled his job. He is the only leader to not receive majority support from either major party or Independents. About 46% of Republicans approved of McConnell, while 21% of Democrats and 35% of Independents said the same.
- About 44% of those surveyed approved of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), while 53% disapproved. About 76% of Democrats approved of Schumer's handling of his job, while just 11% of Republicans said the same.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) received a 40% approval rating. About 71% of Democrats said they approved of Pelosi, while just 6% of Republicans said the same.
- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy received a 46% approval rating, with 71% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats surveyed saying they approved of how he's handling his job.
Meanwhile, President Biden received a 43% approval rating.
- About 44% of those surveyed said they approved of how Vice President Kamala Harris was handling her job.
- Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken each received a 49% approval rating.
What they're saying: "While this is by no means an exhaustive list of public officials, the leaders rated were selected based on being some of this year's more high-profile figures in the federal government," Gallup noted of its poll, conducted Dec. 1–16.
Methodology: Based on telephone interviews conducted Dec. 1–16, with a random sample of 811 adults, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
