Jim Jordan is not really the second-most-popular Republican in America.
Rep. Bob Good (Va.) was one of the Republicans who quickly cast his vote in support of Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid for House speaker Tuesday afternoon. Most Republicans did, of course, but more than enough didn’t — stymieing Jordan’s ascent.
Good appears to have found this somewhat baffling. After all, as he told reporter Ben Jacobs, this wasn’t like January, when the caucus was dragging its feet on approving the “very unpopular” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to serve in the top position in the House. Jordan is “the second-most-popular Republican in the country,” someone that his colleagues should presumably line up behind.
Except, of course, that he isn’t.
Claims like that one are generally tricky to adjudicate. After all, “popularity” is measured in different ways at different times among different groups. Good might mean Jordan’s the second-most-popular Republican in Congress or that he’s the second-most-popular Republican among Republicans or that he’s the second-most-popular Republican among all Americans. It’s not clear. (A request for clarification from Good’s office did not receive a response by the time this article published.)
But there’s a catch. Only just over half of Republicans have an opinion of Jordan.
