Two-thirds of Americans want House to elect speaker ASAP, poll shows: ‘Do your job’

An overwhelming majority of Americans are sick and tired of the battle over the next speaker of the House and just want one elected as soon as possible, a new poll shows.

The USA Today/Suffolk University survey found that 67% of registered voters are fed up with the Republican gridlock in the House and expect the caucus to resolve the speakership crisis — as infighting over the issue continues to dominate the lower chamber nearly three weeks since the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“How often do you see Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree on anything in DC?” said David Paleologos, director of the Boston university’s Political Research Center, to USA Today.

“Look at every demographic: gender, geography, age, race, education level, income, political philosophy, even those who trust CNN vs. Fox News,” he said.

“They are all speaking the same seven words in unison: ‘Elect a speaker, and do your job.’ ”

According to the poll, 57% of Republicans, 86% of Democrats and 59% of independents all agree on the need for a House speaker to be elected quickly to restore order.

Still, a quarter of those polled said it’s no big deal either way — because after all, what does Congress ever really achieve?

“It’s not like they do anything anyways,” said Dustin Gibbons, 34, a Republican and home warranty manager from Queen Creek, Ariz., to the outlet. “I don’t think that a speaker in the House is going to do anything other than, you know, just keep kicking that ball along.”

The eight GOP hardliners who joined every House Democrat in ousting McCarthy on Oct. 3 said the speaker had broken one of his pledges to the conference in choosing to pass a continuing resolution on a bipartisan basis last month that funds the government until Nov. 17, avoiding a shutdown.

In a motion led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), McCarthy became the first House speaker to be removed in US history.

McCarthy announced after the vote that he would not seek re-election, setting up a power struggle between moderates and right-wing members over his replacement.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) briefly considered a bid for the speakership but was superseded by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who last week failed in three floor votes to win the gavel.

Another option entertained by moderates would have sought votes on a bipartisan basis to empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) to pass legislation in the interim, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) confirming he had “respect” for McHenry over Jordan to lead the House.

But it was shot down by members of the conservative Freedom Caucus and GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who opposed what they called a “Democrat-backed” plan for a “coalition government.”

The GOP conference will return to Washington, DC, on Monday evening to consider a slate of nine candidates for their next speaker, each of whom will face a tough fight to clinch 217 nods from their 221 members in a House floor vote.

The potential speaker nominees are Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Mike Johnson (R-La.), Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas).

The House Republican imbroglio has complicated not only the looming deadline to pass further government funding but also proposed legislation that President Biden asked Congress to provide for US aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Biden, 80, called on legislators last week in a primetime Oval Office address to approve $61.4 billion for Kyiv as it nears the end of its second year of war with Russia and $14.3 billion for the Jewish state as it battles Hamas terrorists.

The $106 billion aid package will also include another $30.1 billion for various projects, including $9.15 billion in humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians ahead of an anticipated Israeli ground invasion in the Gaza Strip.

On Oct. 7, Hamas jihadists invaded Israel in a multi-front assault that slaughtered 1,400 Israelis and 31 Americans, wounded thousands and took roughly 200 hostages, some of whom were also American citizens.

But the poll showed signs that the American public has low confidence in Washington’s leaders — especially in the House — to return to effective governing, regardless of their party.

Fifty-four percent of US voters have an unfavorable opinion of the lower chamber, while 25% have a favorable one.

On the whole, 35% of voters expressed “very little” confidence in the nation’s political leaders in Congress and the White House — and 27% express no confidence at all.

Around 32% have “some” confidence in US politicians, while just 4% have “a lot” of confidence in those leaders.

At the same time, 61% of US voters want Congress to negotiate a government spending deal, the poll said.

The USA Today/Suffolk University poll, which was conducted from Oct. 17 to 20, surveyed 1,000 registered voters by landline and cell phone with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.