Mike Johnson says polls underestimate Republican voters

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Monday he believes recent polls showing Republicans trailing Democrats are inaccurate. In a conversation with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Johnson claimed the polls are grossly underestimating Republican enthusiasm around the country. Ingraham had asked Johnson to comment on a new Reuters poll that showed registered voters broadly favored Democrats over Republicans by 47% to 36%. The poll asked respondents which party they would pick for ​Congress in what is known as a generic ballot question.

What else do the polls show? In the Monday Reuters poll, 11% of registered voters said they did not know which party ⁠they would vote for if the election were held today. It reported a 32% approval rating for President Donald Trump among respondents. Another survey released by Marist Poll Tuesday showed likely voters preferring Democrats to Republicans by 52% to 44% on the generic ballot.

Why is Johnson still confident? Johnson claimed the polling was inaccurate because Republicans don’t like to give out their information to people on the phone and thus tend not to participate in these polls, a phenomenon known as partisan nonresponse bias. He also pointed to the recent fraudulent Wedgewood Polling scheme and said the polls cannot be trusted.

The House speaker said Democrats have gone further to the left than during the Obama and Biden administrations. He told The Ingraham Angle that the election is ultimately a choice between common sense and crazy, and that craziness on the left will juice enthusiasm for Republican voters.