Freshman Rep. Ben McAdams, who has the shortest tenure of Utah’s four House members, also has the highest approval rating according to a new Utah Political Trends survey.
The poll from UtahPolicy.com and Y2 Analytics finds 54% of voters in McAdams’ 4th Congressional District approve of how he’s handling his job while 30% disapprove, giving him a net positive approval rating of +24. 16% said they did not now.
Both Reps. Rob Bishop and Chris Stewart find themselves underwater in their approval ratings according to the new poll.
- 34% of voters in Bishop’s 1st District approve of his job performance while 47% disapprove, which translates to a net negative approval rate of -13. 19% said they did not know.
- Chris Stewart’s job performance is approved of by 37% of voters in the 2nd District, while 42% disapprove, leaving him with a net negative approval of -5. 21% had no opinion.
Rep. John Curtis’ 3rd District voters give him a net positive approval of +21 with 45% who approve and 24% who disapprove. 31% said they had no opinion.
McAdams, who won his 4th District election by the slimmest of margins in 2018, has built his political brand on a willingness to work with Republicans and Democrats. He needs support from a significant number of Republicans and independents if he hopes to fend off what should be a stiff challenge in 2020. Our poll found that 31% of “strong” Republicans approve of his job performance, as do 37% of “moderate” Republicans and 52% of independent voters who lean Republican. 55% of independents also approve of him.
McAdams also gets positive approval ratings from both men and women with 53% of women voters and 57% of male voters saying they like the job he’s doing in Congress.
Rep. Chris Stewart, who has hitched his wagon strongly to that of President Trump, is given positive job approval ratings from Republicans and independent voters, while Democrats are not fond of him. 61% of “strong” Republicans, 57% of “moderate” Republicans, 79% of independent voters who lean Republican approve of Stewart’s job performance. True independent voters are evenly divided, with 43% approving and 42% disapproving. It should come as no surprise that huge margins of Democrats disapprove of Stewart’s job performance.
Rep. Rob Bishop, who is retiring from Congress, is well liked by his fellow Republicans but not many other partisans. 68% of “strong” Republicans and 52% of independent voters who lean Republican give him good job performance marks. However, only 40% of moderate Republicans approve of his job performance. Independent voters and Democrats strongly disapprove of Bishop’s job performance.
Rep. John Curtis is not well known among voters in his district, but he those who do know him approve of his job performance. Nearly a third of 3rd District voters said they had no opinion about Curtis, who first won election to fill a Congressional vacancy in 2017.
The Utah Political Trends survey was conducted from September 25 to October 8, 2019 among 959 registered Utah voters. You can read more about how our polls are conducted and methodology here.
