House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Fox News on Sunday that polls showing Democrats favored to win next week’s midterm elections are simply wrong, saying the surveys rely on “faulty analysis.”
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson was pressed by host Shannon Bream on the network’s own power rankings, which currently project 219 seats as solidly Democrat and 198 as solidly Republican, with 18 toss-ups. Bream noted that under a strong Democrat night, the party would reach 237 seats, while a strong GOP night would still leave Republicans with only 219 — short of a majority either way.
Johnson rejected the premise outright.
“Those polls are wrong. They’re based on faulty analysis. Look, in the last week, Shannon, you’ve had two polling organizations nationwide be exposed for completely fraudulent numbers and the more traditional researchers and poll organizations are acknowledging that they’ve been under-sampling Republicans.”
He pointed to a CNN report from less than a week ago that he said found 14 of the last 16 October polls in these races under-sampled Republicans by an average of four points.
Johnson argued the problem is that Republican voters have stopped participating in polling altogether, and he says he sees the gap firsthand on the campaign trail.
“Republicans are no longer responding to polls. Look, I’m going all around the country, Shannon. I’ve been in 21 states, 39 districts, just in the last three weeks. I’m going to the swing districts, the places where we’re going to flip blue seats to red, and we’re having hundreds of people turn out for these events. It’s excitement level like 2024.”
He described testing the theory directly with his own audiences.
“And this is what I do — when I’m in these big arenas, Shannon, I ask for hands. Show me your hand if you’ve answered a poll in the last six months. They’ll be like three hands among 300 people. I’m telling you — these polls are off, all of them, because they’re using faulty analysis.”
Johnson’s comments come as House control hangs in the balance heading into next week’s elections, with Fox News’ own forecast showing Republicans unable to reach a majority under either of its modeled scenarios.
