GOP Favorability Slides as Republican Support For the Party Nosedives 12 Points

Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)

Support for the Republican party is tumbling — leading to a sizable favorability gap between the GOP and the Democrats for the first time in nearly a decade.

According to a new poll by Gallup, support for the Republican party has dipped sharply since November — down 6 points overall. And the drop is coming almost exclusively from within. Republicans gave their own party a 90 percent favorability rating in November. But that number is now down to 78 percent.

The result is that, for the first time since the 2013 government shutdown, there is a double digit split in favorability between the two major parties, according to Gallup. Democrats checked in with a 48 percent approval rating in the survey, giving them an 11 point advantage over the GOP. That number represents a high water mark for the Democrats over the past eight years.

The survey was taken from Jan. 21-Feb. 2, which covers the period after the Capitol riots, the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, and the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Last week, Gallup showed Biden currently stands at 57 percent approval.

Still, a majority of Republicans aren’t looking for a change at the top. Gallup found that 60 percent Republicans and Republican-leaning independents want Trump to remain at the head of the party, while 38 percent would like a new leader.