Sen. John Fetterman is more popular with GOP voters than Pennsylvania’s Republican senator David McCormick, new poll finds
Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is more popular among Republican voters in his state than the state’s own Republican senator, David McCormick.
The survey, conducted by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena University, found that 73 percent of registered Republicans in Pennsylvania hold a favorable opinion of Fetterman, compared with 63 percent who view McCormick favorably.
Don Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute, described the findings as “shocking,” telling The Philadelphia Inquirer that “if you didn’t know any difference, you would immediately assume that Fetterman and McCormick are both Republicans and that Fetterman is an extremely popular Republican senator.”
How the numbers have shifted
According to the poll, Fetterman’s favorability rating among Republicans has nearly tripled since May 2024, when only 25 percent of GOP voters viewed him favorably. Over the same period, his standing with Democrats has collapsed: 74 percent of Democratic voters viewed him favorably in May 2024, compared with just 22 percent now, while 63 percent of Democrats currently hold an unfavorable view of him.
The poll was based on interviews with 760 Pennsylvania voters following a broader data-collection effort that included nearly 47,000 voters nationwide.
Why Democrats have soured on Fetterman
The survey found that two-thirds of likely Democratic voters in Pennsylvania believe Fetterman supports President Donald Trump too often, while roughly half said he has been excessively supportive of Israel. Fetterman has been one of the Senate Democratic Caucus’s most vocal defenders of Israel’s military campaign following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack and he has at times backed Trump administration initiatives, including on immigration enforcement.
Fetterman has repeatedly rejected speculation that he intends to leave the Democratic Party. He wrote that being “an independent voice that works with the other side to deliver for Pennsylvanians might put me at odds with the party that I have stayed committed to and have no plans to leave,” adding that he would put “the commonwealth and the country first.”
Independents and statewide standing
Among independent voters, the poll found 49 percent view Fetterman favorably against 36 percent unfavorably, a gap of 13 percentage points. His overall favorability rating among all registered Pennsylvania voters stands at 46 percent, close to the 48 percent recorded in a comparable survey from 2024.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer addressed the speculation about Fetterman’s party loyalty, telling reporters, “Yes, and he is a very good member of Congress,” and adding that “people in our caucus very much like him and respect him and we’re a big-tent party. We can have a lot of different views in that party.”