SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s only Democrat in Congress, Rep. Ben McAdams, rated higher among voters than the state’s three other U.S. House members, according to a new UtahPolicy.com poll released Thursday.
More than half of Utah voters — 54% — said they approve of how McAdams is handling his job as representative for the state’s 4th Congressional District, a post he won last year by narrowly defeating two-term GOP Rep. Mia Love. McAdams has been labeled one of the nation’s most vulnerable House members in the 2020 elections.
None of Utah’s Republican House members were viewed favorably by a majority of voters in the survey,
Rep. John Curtis’ favorability was at 45%, while 24% of Utah voters said they disapprove of how he’s doing his job representing the state’s 3rd District, and 31% had no opinion. More Utah voters hold an unfavorable opinion of Reps. Chris Stewart and Rob Bishop than favorable.
For Stewart, who represents the 2nd District and is a strong defender of President Donald Trump in national news appearances, his favorability is 37% and his unfavorability is 42%. In the 1st District, Bishop, who is not seeking reelection but is considering a run for governor, is at 34% favorability and 47% unfavorable.
McAdams was recently targeted by the president’s reelection campaign along with more than 60 other Democrats nationwide over his support for the House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s pressuring of foreign leaders to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a top contender in the Democratic presidential race.
Trump Victory is reportedly spending more than $2 million nationwide against the Democratic House members and held an event outside McAdams’ West Jordan office recently where the president’s supporters were outnumbered by a group favoring the inquiry.
America First Policies, a nonprofit conservative organization behind Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Utah in August to promote Trump’s trade deal with Canada and Mexico, is running digital ads against McAdams as part of a $1 million anti-impeachment campaign.
McAdams ran on his willingness to work across the aisle in the Democratic-controlled Congress and has introduced a number of bipartisan bills, including for a federal ozone study intended to help find ways to improve air quality along the Wasatch Front.
“Congressman McAdams is working hard on Utah’s behalf, with Republicans and Democrats, to solve problems, such as the rising cost of prescription drugs, air quality, infrastructure and consumer protection. That is who he is and Utahns are seeing that in action,” his spokeswoman, Alyson Heyrend, said.
Other members of the U.S. House from Utah did not respond to requests for comment.
LaVarr Webb, UtahPolicy.com publisher, said voters seem to appreciate McAdams’ approach.
“He has kind of meticulously tried to be a centrist in Congress, hasn’t condemned Trump or cozied up to the more liberal side of his party,” he said, calling McAdams “a very likable person” who became well-known to many voters as Salt Lake County mayor.
In addition to being the most popular member of the U.S. House from Utah among voters, McAdams also had the lowest number of poll respondents who had no opinion of him, just 16%, compared to 21% for Stewart and 19% for Bishop.
Webb said the last Democrat to serve in Congress from Utah, Jim Matheson, also was consistently the most popular member of the state’s delegation in polls for the same reason. Matheson defeated Love in her first bid for Congress in 2012, then chose to retire at the end of what was his seventh term.
Matthew Burbank, a University of Utah political science professor, said McAdams has “been very attentive to making sure he’s seen in the district, doing lots of events when he’s home” to promote issues that appeal to a wide spectrum of Utahns, such as fighting pollution or increasing access to rental bikes.
Both Webb and Burbank said, however, that as the election gets closer, voters are likely to take a more partisan look at McAdams.
Already, a number of Republican candidates are jockeying for the 4th District seat, including state Senate Majority Whip Dan Hemmert, R-Orem; state Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan; former Utah GOP communications director Kathleen Anderson; and former KSL Newsradio host Jay Mcfarland.
Webb said when it comes time to vote, many people come home to their political party.
“I think having a high approval rating going into the election year is obviously a big benefit. But it doesn’t mean that (McAdams) will have an easy election. I think it will still be very close,” he said, adding that it’s no guarantee of victory in 2020.
Burbank said as the impeachment inquiry proceeds, McAdams will feel more pressure in GOP-dominated Utah.
“He’s a Democrat in a predominantly Republican district and so that’s a very fine line he’s going to have to walk in that case,” the professor said. He said even though much of what Trump does “just rubs lots of Utahns the wrong way, that kind of disappears as you get closer to election time.”
Stewart’s unfavorable numbers may be a reflection of his steady support for Trump, Burbank said, noting that 28% of voters said they strongly disapprove of how the 2nd District congressman is doing his job while only half as many, 14%, strongly approve.
He said Democratic and unaffiliated voters, particularly, see Stewart as “the one who’s doing talk shows. He’s the one who’s in the committee hearing going through the Republican talking points. I think there’s a sense that they would like their member of Congress to do something other than just support the president.”
The poll was conducted Sept.25-Oct. 8 for the online political news sources by Y2 Analytics of registered Utah voters participating in the Utah Political Trends panel. The sample size by congressional district ranged from 198 to 269, and the margin of error, from plus or minus 5.9 to 6.9 percentage points.