McCarthy exceeding expectations as speaker, say staffers.

McCarthy’s Leadership: A Surprising Turn of Events

After a lengthy and contentious election process, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected as the House speaker in January. Many lawmakers questioned whether this prolonged election was a sign of things to come – a leadership plagued by internal disagreements within the GOP, hindering progress on the House floor.

Fast forward six months, and senior Capitol Hill staffers from both sides of the aisle are changing their tune. They are now admitting that they may have underestimated McCarthy’s influence over the GOP caucus at the start of his speakership. In fact, a recent Canvass Capitol Hill poll revealed that approximately 85% of senior staffers from both Republican and Democratic parties in the House now believe that McCarthy is more effective than they initially predicted.

The poll showed that the majority of this sentiment came from the GOP caucus, with a staggering 97% of Republican staffers admitting their underestimation of McCarthy. Surprisingly, a significant number of Democratic staffers, 73%, shared the same sentiment, indicating that McCarthy has gained strong standing among both parties in the lower chamber.

This newfound approval marks a significant shift from a similar poll conducted in February, where most senior staffers expressed doubts about McCarthy’s control over his own party. These doubts were particularly fueled by the concessions he made to hard-line conservatives in exchange for their support. However, McCarthy managed to dispel these uncertainties by successfully brokering a debt ceiling deal with President Joe Biden, averting an economic collapse.

Unfortunately, this victory was short-lived as a group of hard-line conservatives revolted against GOP leadership, stalling any further action on the floor. These conservatives cited frustrations with the compromises made in the debt limit agreement. According to the poll, 78% of senior staffers predicted that this deal would weaken McCarthy’s standing among the most right-wing members of the GOP.

Despite these challenges, McCarthy remains confident in his continued influence and frequently accuses the media of underestimating his leadership. In his own words, “I think a lot of you were beginning to not underestimate us when we had such a good victory last week. So I think [the revolt] kind of helps lower [expectations] again, so you’ll underestimate us, so we’ll have more victories. So, in the end, when I look back, this may be a very big positive thing.”

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