After midterm elections, Democrats divided on Pelosi for speaker
By Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto
Democrats nationwide are divided over whether current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi should become the next speaker of the House. Forty-nine percent of Democrats would like to see Pelosi become speaker, but 40 percent would prefer another Democrat.
With the Democratic party set to take control of the House of Representatives in January, 3 in 4 Americans (including most Democrats) prefer the Democratic party work with President Trump where both sides agree, but few think they will actually be able to do that. This sentiment extends across party lines.
There is partisan disagreement on what House Democrats will do when they take control. Seven in 10 Republicans think the Democrats will focus more on trying to investigate the president. Most Democrats say their party will focus more on their own agenda, although nearly 4 in 10 think the party will focus more on investigating Mr. Trump.
Amid the aftermath of the midterm elections, Democrats feel more optimistic (72 percent) about the future of the country over the next two years than either Republicans (57 percent) or independents (61 percent).
This poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 15-18, 2018, among a random sample of 1,103 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cellphones.
The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone.
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers. The data have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables.
The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher and is available by request. The margin of error includes the effects of standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
