Poll: 18% of Americans View Mitch McConnell Positively as Age Comes Under Scrutiny

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is deeply unpopular with Americans of all political affiliations, as just 18 percent of the country finds him “favorable,” according to a YouGov/Economist poll, while colleagues on Capitol Hill are reportedly “alarmed” over “how much [he] has aged.”

The poll, published Wednesday, shows that only three percent of Americans find him “very favorable,” while 15 percent of all respondents find him “somewhat favorable.” 

Conversely, 60 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of McConnell, and a plurality of 42 percent have “very unfavorable” perceptions. In other words, his rating is 42 points underwater. 

Among Republicans, 34 percent give McConnell positive marks, including only five percent who say he is “very favorable” versus 49 percent who see him negatively. 

The sample included 1,491 Americans and has a margin of error of ± 3.2 percent. YouGov conducted the poll from August 12-15. 

It comes as McConnell, who fell in March and suffered a concussion that sidelined him for six weeks, inexplicably froze for some 23 seconds during a July 26 press conference and was helped away from the podium.

WATCH: Mitch McConnell Freezes Mid-Speech, Led Away from Podium

McConnell later said he was “fine” and joked, “The president called to check on me. I told him I got sandbagged.” Biden had used the term after he tripped over a sandbag during June’s U.S. Air Force Academy commencement.

WATCH: CRASH LANDING! Biden Falls at U.S. Air Force Academy Commencement

On Monday, Politico Politics Bureau Chief Jonathan Martin released an in-depth report on McConnell’s summer, in which Martin writes in the first person, “… as somebody who’s covered McConnell for years, it’s jarring to see his decline.” 

He noted that in non-attributable conversations, a major theme that reoccured was “how much McConnell has aged,” adding: 

Unlike with Biden, whose every gaffe and slip on the steps is caught on camera, McConnell’s difficulties have been largely out of view, or at least they were until late last month. In private, though, McConnell’s colleagues have grown more alarmed, with one lawmaker even talking to the leader’s staff about whether he should consider hearing implants.

What is more, when McConnell attended the Fancy Farm Picnic in Kentucky on August 5, where he was met with chants of “ditch Mitch” and “retire,” he repeatedly relied on his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, when getting up from his seat, per Martin.