The Republican majority in Congress is in trouble, according to a new Rasmussen survey, and if the mid-term elections were held today, power on Capitol Hill would almost surely change hands.
According to a Rasmussen Report released Monday morning, 45 percent of likely voters would vote for Democrats while 37 percent would vote for Republicans and 12 percent aren’t sure who they would vote for. That’s not a good sign for House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Both have been criticized over the past several months for the inability of Congress to act on certain issues ranging from a repeal of Obamacare to protecting Second Amendment rights, although there has been movement on both issues.
The Tax reform package removed the insurance mandate, which was a big part of Obamacare, and the Senate has confirmed a conservative pro-Second Amendment justice to the Supreme Court and also several conservatives to the lower federal courts.
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But gun rights activists want the proposed Hearing Protection Act and national concealed carry reciprocity to become law.
The new survey results, released on the eve of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday evening, don’t bode well. Trump is expected to focus on the improved economy, roaring stock market, immigration reform, the lower unemployment rate and strengthening of the military. It will be a stunner if he also talks about the Second Amendment, but with Trump, one never can be absolutely certain what he will say.
This comes just days after another Rasmussen survey revealed that a whopping 49 percent of voters think a special prosecutor should be named to investigate “whether senior FBI officials handled the investigation of Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump in a legal and unbiased fashion.” On the other side of the argument, 31 percent disagree, but 19 percent aren’t sure either way.
Fox News is reporting that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has been “removed” from his post, and is taking what the cable news agency called “terminal leave” until his retirement in “a matter of weeks.”
McCabe has been the subject of controversy over the past several months, Fox noted in its report. His “ties” to the Democratic Party have been questioned and his wife ran as a Democrat for the Virginia Senate in 2015.
While this may satisfy some FBI critics, it still doesn’t change the political landscape for the GOP. According to Monday’s Rasmussen Reports, “Democrats have a two-to-one lead over Republicans among voters not affiliated with either major political party, 44% to 22%.”
And interest in a special prosecutor to investigate the FBI runs along party lines, Rasmussen said last week.
“Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans are calling for an outside prosecutor to investigate the FBI,” Rasmussen reported, “as is a plurality (49%) of voters not affiliated with either major political party. Among Democrats, 38% favor a special prosecutor; 40% are opposed, but 22% are undecided.”
When Trump was elected, he promised to “drain the swamp.” From all indications, that could be a cataclysmic event.
