Back in October, when U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson was elevated from the back bench to speaker of the U.S. House, the most repeated question was: “Who is this guy?”
Even in Louisiana, few people at the time could call the name of the Benton Republican. Now Johnson is the House’s top leader, the Republican Party’s highest-ranking elected official, and second in line for the presidency.
In the first measure of Johnson’s statewide standing in Louisiana since becoming speaker, Johnson shows a net favorable rating +14, with 44% giving him a favorable rating against 30% unfavorable, according to a statewide survey conducted for The Advocate | The Times-Picayune.
Among Republicans, Johnson’s favorability ratings are much higher: 60% favorable versus 17% unfavorable. And among "rock-solid Trump Republicans," those who tend to support former President Donald Trump without reservation, Johnson has a 69% favorable rating and an 11% unfavorable rating, the survey says.
The Advocate | The Times-Picayune hired Faucheux Strategies, a nonpartisan survey research firm, to interview 800 voters across the state, primarily on cellphones, between April 22 to April 26. The poll's margin of error is 3.5%.
“Most people in Louisiana didn’t know of Johnson. He’s in the Shreveport media market, which is about as far from the epicenter of Baton Rouge and New Orleans as you can get,” said John Couvillon, a Baton Rouge political strategist and pollster who works primarily for Republicans.
The congressman's recognition both nationally and in Louisiana increased with the amount of news coverage Johnson receives as one of the nation’s top leaders. He "presents himself as soft-spoken, friendly demeanor. He doesn’t come across angry like so many of the extremists," Couvillon said. "That works well for him."
Johnson's ratings are better on his home turf than in south Louisiana. His favorability rating is 48% in the north and central part of the state, compared to 41% in the south.
While Johnson has faced some rebellion from the GOP's right flank, Trump recently voiced his support for the speaker when he was targeted for ouster. A motion to "vacate the chair," filed by hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, was overwhelmingly shut down this week.
That bipartisan vote of confidence from the House came after Johnson successfully worked around far-right opponents to move “must-pass” bills, including one to avoid a government shutdown and another to keep Ukraine from collapsing.
It was precisely Johnson’s willingness to negotiate that persuaded Kevin Williams, a 67-year-old retired bank examiner, to view Johnson favorably, despite not agreeing politically with the speaker’s far-right and evangelical Protestant positions. A devout Southern Baptist, Johnson is against abortion, opposes giving LGBTQ+ community specific rights to sue when discriminated against, and doesn’t want government to support transgender people.
“He talks all this Christian-values stuff. But everything in the New Testament and what Jesus Christ said is to help the poor and uplift the needy,” said Williams, a Black Democrat from New Orleans. “But he showed me something by his willingness to balance interests and compromise even when his people are threatening him.”
Read next: Louisiana residents support Donald Trump over Joe Biden in 2024 election, poll shows
How the poll was conducted
Faucheux Strategies, a nonpartisan research firm based in Louisiana, interviewed a representative sample of 800 registered voters across Louisiana between April 22-26.
Trained professionals conducted the interviews by telephone; 79% of them were contacted on cellphones and 21% on landlines.
The calls were based on a scientifically selected, random sample of state voters. The racial composition of the sample was 64% White, 30% Black and 6% other. For this poll, “independent” includes people who have no party affiliation and people who are affiliated with a third party. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3.46%.
