The start of Congress was delayed last week by the historic 15-ballot fight to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as House speaker. The stalemate paralyzed the legislative branch of government, and Congress was unable to pass legislation or offer services to constituents.
McCarthy was finally elected as speaker after reaching an agreement with the 20 Republican members who had refused to vote for him on previous ballots.
Voters are split as to whether McCarthy or his opponents are more to blame for that delay, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey.
Thirty-nine percent of voters say McCarthy was more to blame for the standoff, while an equal 39% said McCarthy's GOP opponents were more to blame, and 22% are not sure.
The Rasmussen poll finds that 65% of likely U.S. voters said they believe the delayed start of Congress was a serious problem, including 33% who said it was very serious. Thirty-two percent didn't see the delay as a serious problem, including 16% who said it was not at all serious.
Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 57% of Republicans, and 54% of unaffiliated voters said the delay was at least a somewhat serious problem.
Forty-two percent of Republicans, 35% of Democrats, and 40% of unaffiliated voters said McCarthy was more to blame for the delay caused by the contested Speaker election. Forty-one percent of Republicans, 39% of Democrats and 36% of unaffiliated voters placed more blame on the Republican members of the House who refused to vote for McCarthy.
Voters 65 and older are more likely to view the delay in starting Congress as a very serious problem, and also more likely to blame McCarthy.
Voters who consider the delay to be a very serious problem are slightly more likely to blame McCarthy (40%) than the Republicans who voted against McCarthy. Those who say the problem caused by the delay is not at all serious, however, are much more likely to blame McCarthy (60%) than his GOP opponents (24%).
President Joe Biden's strongest supporters are most likely to consider the delay of Congress a serious problem. Among voters who strongly approve of Biden's job performance as president, 54% say the delay was a very serious problem. By contrast, among those who strongly disapprove of Biden's performance, only 19% considered the delay a very serious problem.
The survey of 900 U.S. likely voters was conducted on Jan. 5, 8-9, by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
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