During the May 14 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, political analyst Mike Barnicle stated that the Democrats, without President Obama, are “weaker than the Republicans.” Host Joe Scarborough agreed, saying, “They are weaker than the Republican Party, but ... [t]here's a superstar of a politician running their party.” However, according to PollingReport.com, which compiles survey data from national polling organizations, congressional Democrats have higher favorable/approval ratings and lower unfavorable/disapproval ratings than congressional Republicans in every recent survey conducted by Daily Kos/Research 2000, Quinnipiac University, ABC News/Washington Post, Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, USA Today/Gallup, and CBS News.
Moreover, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation and Pew Research Center polls, which ask about approval of congressional Democratic and Republican “leaders,” show that congressional Democratic leaders have higher approval and lower disapproval ratings than Republican leaders. Also, recent Daily Kos/Research 2000 and Newsweek polls show that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) received higher approval ratings than House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) received equal or higher approval ratings than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
From the May 14 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
SCARBOROUGH: Everybody always talks about how weak the Republican Party is -- take Barack Obama away from the Democratic Party and who do you have? Nancy Pelosi --
BRZEZINSKI: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: -- Harry Reid, Henry Waxman, Barney Frank.
BARNICLE: They're weaker.
BRZEZINSKI: Good point.
SCARBOROUGH: They are --
BARNICLE: They're weaker than the Republicans without the president.
SCARBOROUGH: -- weaker than the Republican Party, but they have got --
BRZEZINSKI: A good leader.
SCARBOROUGH: There's a superstar of a politician running their party.
