By Kery Murakami |The Washington Times
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
speaks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during Paid Leave for
All rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. (AP
Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Support among Black voters and other minorities for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer is plummeting.
From April to September, Black support for Mrs. Pelosi
and Mr. Schumer dropped from 50% to 39%, according to Pew Research polling data
provided to The Washington Times.
Support among Black voters for Congress’ overall
Democratic leadership skidded from 82% to 59% in that time frame.
The decline mirrors Mr. Biden’s waning popularity among
minorities. Black respondents who approved of Mr. Biden’s job performance
dropped from 85% to 67% during the same five-month span. It dropped from 72% to
56% among Hispanics and 68% to 54% among Asians.
The eroding job approval for Democratic leaders follows
party infighting in Washington,
gridlock in Congress and the Democrats’ failures to deliver promised racial
justice overhauls of policing and elections.
Rising inflation and a struggling economy are other
reasons for voters, including minorities, to be unhappy with Democrats, who
have complete control of power in Washington, said
Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican political consultant in Texas.
“Everybody was better off before Biden economically,”
said Mr. Steinhauser, a former campaign manager for Sen. John Cornyn, Texas
Republican and an organizer of the tea party march on Washington in
2009. “People aren’t seeing a lot from the Biden administration, except for a
lot of spending and paying some people not to work.”
Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Mrs. Pelosi,
California Democrat, refused to answer questions for this article, as did the
Democratic House and Senate campaign committees.
Georgetown University political science professor Nadia
Brown, an expert in Black women in politics, said the dwindling support also
could reflect frustration over Democrats’ failure to pass popular liberal
policies such as subsidized child care, which is one of the measures in Mr.
Biden’s stalled $3.5 trillion social welfare and climate change bill.
“The policies that Americans
want aren’t happening,” she said. “The politics is happening.”
Support for the Democratic leaders also dropped among
other minority groups polled by Pew.
In April, 64% of Hispanics approved of Democratic
leaders’ job performance. In September, the number tumbled to 51%. Support for
the Democrats among Asians fell from 64% to 55% during that time.
The decline in support among minorities, who were key to
winning the White House, threatens Democrats’ chances of keeping control of the
House and Senate in next year’s midterm elections.
However, the drop in popularity for Democrats hasn’t
meant a lovefest for Republican leaders. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
of California and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also took
hits, according to the Pew data.
Job approval for Republican congressional leaders dropped
from 32% in April to 27% in September. Even among White respondents, those who
approved of the job the Republicans are doing edged down from 33% to 29%.
Support for Mr. McCarthy and Mr. McConnell also dropped among Black, Hispanic
and Asian voters in the survey.
Mr. McConnell and Mr. McCarthy also refused to comment
for this article, as did the Republican campaign committees for House and
Senate candidates.
Indeed, Americans — regardless of party or race — are not
happy with the job performance in Washington.
“It’s a plague on both of their houses,” said Mr.
Steinhauser. “I don’t know if people feel like there’s a good alternative
offered by Republicans. There’s still work to be done.”
Still, he viewed the unhappiness of minority voters as an
opening for Republicans with that solidly Democratic bloc.
Mike Madrid, a former political director for the
California Republican Party, said the declining approval numbers toward all
congressional leaders by people of all races reflect the country’s economic
woes.
“People are feeling less confident. The mood of the
electorate is beginning to sour,” he said. “There’s a trepidation that the
stimulus money is ending and maybe not having a way of being able to get back
into the workforce.”
Mr. Madrid said every elected official in Washington is
at risk. “It’s not a good prognosis for incumbents,” he said.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/oct/15/pelosi-schumer-watch-support-nose-dive-among-black/
