Even Though The GOP Has The Majority, Republican Voters Feel Less Represented in Congress

By a 10-point margin, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that their own party’s members of Congress agree with them.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 27% of Likely U.S. Voters think the average Democrat in Congress is about the same as them in political terms. Twenty-five percent (25%) feel that way politically about the average Republican in Congress. These findings have barely changed since August 2021. 

Forty-five percent (45%) of Democratic voters say the average Democrat in Congress is about the same as them in political terms, while just 35% of Republican voters feel that way about the average Republican in Congress. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 28% say the average Republican in Congress is about the same as them in political terms, while 24% feel that was about Democrats.

Forty-one percent (41%) of all Likely Voters believe it is fair to say that neither party in Congress is the party of the American people. Thirty-nine percent (39%) disagree, while 20% are undecided.

More Democrats (44%) than Republicans (37%) or unaffiliated voters (42%) consider it fair to say that neither party in Congress is the party of the American people.

Nearly half (49%) of Likely Voters say the average Democrat in Congress is more liberal than they are. That includes 27% of Democratic voters, as well as 69% of Republicans and 53% of unaffiliated voters. Only 15% of voters think the average Democrat in Congress is more conservative than they are.

Forty-six percent (46%) of voters believe the average Republican in Congress is more conservative than they are. That includes 28% of GOP voters, 61% of Democrats and 47% of unaffiliated voters. Twenty percent (20%) of all voters say the average Republican in Congress is more liberal than they are.

Voters 50 and older are less likely to say neither party in Congress is the party of the American people, but more likely to say the average Democrat in Congress is more liberal than they are.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of whites think the average Democrat in Congress is more liberal than they are, a view shared by 44% of blacks, 34% of Hispanics and 52% of other minority voters. The average GOP member of Congress is seen as more conservative by 47% of whites, 40% of black voters, 34% of Hispanics and 59% of other minorities.

Significantly more men (48%) than women voters (35%) believe it is fair to say that neither party in Congress is the party of the American people.

Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters earning less than $50,000 a year are more likely to say the average Democrat in Congress is about the same as them in political terms.

Among those who voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, 37% say the average Republican in Congress is about the same as them in political terms, while 47% of Kamala Harris voters say Democrats in Congress are politically about the same as them.

The survey of 1,190 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on August 24-26, 2025 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. See methodology. To see survey question wording, click here.
 

• Opinion polls
• Republican congressional majority
• President Donald Trump
• Trump administration
• Rasmussen Reports
• party ideologies
• conservative voters
• MAGA Agenda
• Big Beautiful Bill
• Party ID

 

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