"Nothing like being the least-hated leader in the most-hated institution in America."

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The least-loved political leaders in America aren’t named Barack Obama
By Aaron Blake, October 7, 2014

Want to be despised by the American people? Forget becoming president; you should be a party leader in Congress.

The most unpopular folks in Washington, it seems, are the two leaders of the Senate and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Witness the following.

First, here's a new Gallup poll, showing that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has never had a worse image among the American people. His favorable/unfavorable split has shifted from 41/27 (a net-negative-14) earlier this year to 45/21 (negative-24).



Next, Gallup's data on Boehner. Boehner's current 28/50 split is only marginally better than his previous worst — 27/51, in October 2013.

What was happening on October 2013? The government shutdown, of course.



A big reason for the erosion in Boehner's support is that Republicans are increasingly taking a dim view of him. As it stands, they are only marginally more favorable towards him (46 percent) than unfavorable (40 percent).

Even as recently as 2012, Boehner was quite popular among Republicans.



Lest you think Americans' wrath is reserved only for those leading the majority parties, there's Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). A poll released Monday by Democratic pollster Democracy Corps shows McConnell is in about the same spot as Reid — if not worse.

Here's their data, which is based upon people rating their warmth toward each man on a scale of zero to 100.



All three men listed above, it should be noted, have a bigger gap between their unfavorable ratings and their favorable ones than President Obama. And that's despite being less well-known.

Now, do Americans really dislike these three men that much? Maybe not. We're guessing that the vast majority of people don't pay much attention to any of them and are simply registering their distaste with Congress as a whole. After all, if you hate Congress, how can you love the people who are in charge of it?

These aren't the first leaders, of course, to earn the scorn of the American people. Back in 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the GOP's favorite punching bag — arguably more so than Obama — and had the image ratings to prove it. Her 29 percent favorable rating and 56 percent unfavorable rating combined for a worse image than any of the three men above have today.

But want to guess who is the most popular congressional leader today?

It's Nancy Pelosi. Gallup showed her in April with a 33 percent favorable rating and 49 percent unfavorable rating, while GOP-leaning automated pollster Rasmussen Reports in August showed her favorable rating seven points higher than any of the three men mentioned above.

Nothing like being the least-hated leader in the most-hated institution in America.
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