House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is on track to the speaker’s gavel after Democrats’ midterm elections Tuesday, even though voters rate him lower than the Republican he is set to replace.
The last Economist/YouGov poll before Election Day, conducted October 23-26, found that 26 percent of registered voters approved of the job the New York Democrat was doing and 47 percent disapproved. Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, had 32 percent approval and 45 percent disapproval, leaving Jeffries 8 points behind him net. YouGov surveyed 1,440 registered voters, with a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also a New York Democrat, had the worst numbers among the four congressional leaders, with 24 percent approval to 54 percent disapproval. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, had the lowest approval rating, at 21 percent, but fewer voters disapproved of him, at 46 percent.
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Since Tuesday’s election, petitions demanding new Democratic leadership in both houses of Congress have garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures, and several new senators have said they will vote against Schumer. However, neither New Yorker has a declared challenger, and the numbers within both caucuses favor them.
News week contacted Jeffries and Schumer’s offices for comment via email Friday.
Jeffries trailed Johnson in latest pre-election poll
Democrats handed Republicans a beating in the midterms, flipping seven Senate seats and more than 40 House seats. But trust in those who lead them has rarely been so low. The polling ended a week before Democrats flipped both chambers and did not reflect how much improvement leaders might see from the results.
Congress itself met with 18 percent approval and 59 percent disapproval. Asked what the next Congress should do differently, the most common response, 24 percent of respondents, was to monitor and oppose the Trump administration.
A Change.org petition titled “House Democrats: CHOOSE A NEW SPEAKER” had 762,343 verified signatures as of Thursday evening. Author and TikTok creator Nicole Whitted launched it in September, and it had about 20,000 signatures as of Wednesday. The petition was supported by actor Mark Ruffalo, who posted: “Sign this petition if you want a new Speaker of the House.” According to the petition, Whitted is a paid change ambassador.
The petition asks “each member of the upcoming 120th Congress to vote against Hakeem Jeffries for president in January 2027 and choose a different candidate.”
Whitted said News week On Thursday, his objection goes beyond a simple political fight.
“This is real leadership that aligns with today’s Democratic voter, real accountability and whether the party is actually listening to voters demanding change,” she said.
She highlighted Jeffries’ ties to business interests and pro-Israel lobbying groups, as well as an August meeting with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Some members of the new House class have said much the same thing.
“I hope I can vote for an alternative to Jeffries,” Democrat William Lawrence, who flipped Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, said in July.
Colorado Rep.-elect Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist, has ruled out voting for any leadership-seeking Democrat who takes corporate PAC money.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist, stood by Jeffries. “I continue to support Congressman Jeffries and his bid to become leader,” Mamdani said in August.
Schumer faces revolt from his own voters and new senators
Of the four leaders in the YouGov poll, Schumer was the only one who was viewed more negatively than positively by his own party. Forty-two percent of Democrats disapproved and 38 percent approved.
Two Change.org petitions calling on Senate Democrats to choose a new majority leader were launched Wednesday and passed a total of 100,000 signatures as of Thursday. The largest, launched by Laura Ciocia, claims that Schumer “falls back when it counts.” It also accuses him of opposing former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and of taking his campaign money from pro-Israeli donors.
Indivisible, the progressive organizing group, released a memo Thursday pushing senators to force a contested race.
“The question of who will lead the party in this era should be an open question, not a coronation,” the memo said.
Much of the anger against Schumer dates back to last year’s government shutdown, which ended after he supported a Republican bill to reopen federal agencies. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, called it a “surrender.”
At least seven new Democratic senators have said or signaled that they will not commit to Schumer.
Illinois Sen.-elect Juliana Stratton made it part of her keynote address: “I will not support Chuck Schumer for leader in the Senate,” she said during a January debate.
Kansas Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton was more direct in September: “I don’t support Schumer.”
Troy Jackson, Maine’s senator-elect, said he told Schumer directly that he would “support someone else.”
“I think it’s time for new leadership,” Minnesota Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan said Wednesday.
South Carolina Sen.-elect Annie Andrews called Thursday for “generational change on both sides of the aisle,” and Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed wants Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen to fill the position.
Schumer dismissed it.
“The problem does not come from me. I will be re-elected as leader of the majority,” he told journalists on Wednesday. “But the problem centers on the American people and what they want.”
The two leaders remain big favorites
Jeffries, who would be the first black speaker in U.S. history, formally launched his candidacy Wednesday in a letter to his colleagues.
“Against all odds, House Democrats have consistently managed to succeed in the minority,” he wrote. “We must now deliver the radical change that the majority of the American people are demanding.”
No House Democrats have announced a run against him, and Whitted said she hasn’t heard from anyone considering running.
The caucus is expected to hold leadership elections Nov. 18-19, ahead of January’s floor vote in which the president-elect will need 218 votes. With Democrats holding 250 seats Friday and on track to secure their largest majority in the House since 2008, a protest bloc on the ground would carry little weight. Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton said the margin allowed Jeffries to “govern without fear of being exploited by anyone.”
On the Senate side, Schumer needs a simple majority in a caucus that currently has 54 members, including two independents, with Mississippi and Alaska still unconvened. Senators are expected to vote by secret ballot in early December.
No senators ran against Schumer. Van Hollen, the leading progressive name, said before the election that he had “not thought” about running for party leader and has since argued that Democrats should not rally around Schumer without committing to a bold agenda.
Democrats flipped seven Senate seats held by Republicans on Tuesday, including Iowa, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, and several of the winners were Schumer recruits. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker credited it Wednesday with “one of the most historic sweeps” for the party.
“We’re going to have a family discussion,” Booker said. “But I think America should give Chuck Schumer his due for what we were able to accomplish.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin predicted this week that Jeffries and Schumer would keep their jobs.
Contact Newsweek editors about this story: Jason Lemon And Dave Siminoff.
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