Speaker Johnson on Forecasts of a Democratic House: ‘These Polls Are Off’

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday dismissed forecasts showing Democrats favored to win the House, saying the polls behind them are wrong.

“I’m telling you, these polls are off — all of them — because they’re using faulty analysis,” Johnson told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Republicans are no longer responding to polls,” Johnson said, adding that he meets few Republicans in swing states who have taken part in surveys. He also said two polling outfits had been exposed for “completely fraudulent numbers.”

Two firms have admitted faking results this year. Wedgewood Polling said this month that most of its data was fabricated as an “experimental project,” and Median Strategies made a similar admission in August, PBS News reported.

Wedgewood’s numbers had been cited by national outlets, and The New York Times and FiftyPlusOne pulled its data from their polling databases after the admission.

Fox’s own forecast points the other way. The Fox News Power Rankings give Democrats an advantage in at least 219 seats and Republicans at least 198, with 18 toss-ups. A majority takes 218.

On a good night, Democrats would hold about 237 seats, the forecast says. A good night for Republicans would leave the GOP at about 216, two short of a majority.

The forecast blamed gas, diesel and grocery prices and flagged GOP trouble with rural voters, including in New York’s 21st District, which Trump carried by 21 points two years ago.

‘Extraordinary Record’

Johnson, marking three years as speaker, defended his conference’s work. “It’s not been easy, but we have an extraordinary record of delivering for the American people, fulfilling our promises,” he said, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

He listed border security, “the largest tax cut in U.S. history,” a $1.6 trillion spending cut, rolled-back regulations, Trump accounts for newborns and the first nationwide school choice program.

Bream pressed him on voter pessimism over costs. “Gas prices are too high, we know that, and, of course, we have much more work to be done,” Johnson said, blaming a “hostile media environment.”

He cast the midterms as a choice. “Every voter has to ask themselves a simple question, ‘Which candidate is best for me and my family, my children, my aging parents?'” Johnson said.

Polls show the hill he faces. An Oct. 15 Associated Press-NORC survey found 84% of respondents ranked the cost of living among their most important issues. Forty-seven percent preferred Democratic control of the House, while 38% favored Republicans.

Johnson has said the mood on the trail feels different. “It feels like 2024 to me when we defied the odds,” he said in an Oct. 18 Fox News interview. “I believe we can defy history and keep this majority.”

Voters will decide control of the House and Senate on Nov. 3.

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