Fox News Poll: Americans Say GOP Is Putting Party Over Country

Fox News’ new poll suggests that Americans believe that the Republican Party is putting party over country, reports MSNBC.

The results of the poll are unflattering for the GOP with a large number of people saying that they don’t approve of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court. It is not surprising as Kavanaugh has found himself mired in sexual assault claims by at least two women, with a third woman expected to go public soon. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and while Democrat senators are trying hard to postpone his confirmation in light of the revelations, Republicans are committed to confirming him as soon as possible.

But it appears this haste to confirm Kavanaugh is not sitting well with Americans, according to the results of the poll conducted by Fox News, which has famously tried to rally behind Trump’s pick. Even more significantly, a majority of Americans said in the poll that they believe the Republican Party is putting its own welfare over that of the country.

The poll contained a question which is not usually seen in polls, with takers expected to answer whether they thought Republicans and Democrats were putting party welfare over America’s welfare.

“Which of the following best describes how you feel about Republicans?”

“They love America and truly want what’s best for the country,” or “They simply want what’s best for their party, even if it hurts the country.”

Interesting tell from Trump: "The Republicans could not be nicer than the way they're handling this. They could have pushed it through two and a half weeks ago and you wouldn't be talking about it right now, which is, frankly, what I would have preferred." (via Fox) pic.twitter.com/HwYhnXLyZI

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 26, 2018

The same question was also asked about Democrats.

While 43 percent of people said that they believed Democrats were putting party over the country, more than half of the participants (52 percent) said that Republicans were putting their party first. Compared to 44 percent people saying Democrats were doing what’s best for the country, only 36 percent said the same thing about Republicans.

The answer is in sharp contrast to what Fox News itself espouses to its viewers, to rally behind Donald Trump and his decisions. It is not clear if Fox’s viewer base participated in the poll, but the results would seem even more ironic if that was the case.

The poll also shed light on partisanship and patriotism, things outside the ambit of traditional poll metrics, which are usually concerned with approval/disapproval ratings, or whether a certain candidate was favorable or unfavorable.

But while the results of the poll would definitely cause consternation for the Republicans ahead of the mid-terms, the party would be confident of doing well given the president’s unabashed backing.

“The Republicans could not be nicer than the way they’re handling this,” Trump said about the delay in confirming Kavanaugh. “They could have pushed it through two and a half weeks ago and you wouldn’t be talking about it right now, which is, frankly, what I would have preferred.”