Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is having a hard time both at home in Kentucky and at work in Washington, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey.
The survey, conducted between Aug. 15-16 among 645 Kentucky voters, indicated McConnell now sports an approval rating of just 18 percent in his home state -- 42 points lower than President Donald Trump, with whom he has developed an increasingly tense relationship.
McConnell led the charge in July to pass a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act and has been forced to absorb the fallout from both constituents and fellow legislators since its failure. In an apparent attempt to defend himself, he said in an Aug. 8 speech he believed President Donald Trump had entered the White House with “excessive expectations” about the speed of the legislative process.
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"Part of the reason I think people think we're under-performing is because of too many artificial deadlines unrelated to the reality of the legislature which may have not been understood,” he told a crowd in Florence, Kentucky.
Trump took his rebuttal to Twitter.
Senator Mitch McConnell said I had "excessive expectations," but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
The good news for McConnell is that he has three years to shore up support in his home state: His name won’t appear on a ballot again until 2020.
