Zack Budryk
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are the only 2020 presidential contenders among the 10 most popular U.S. senators, according to a Morning Consult poll.
Sanders is the most popular senator, with 62 percent approval compared with 31 percent disapproval, according to the poll, while Klobuchar is the third most popular with 58 percent approval and 26 percent disapproval.
The top five are rounded out by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) at number two, with 59 percent approval and 28 percent disapproval; Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) at 58 percent approval to 29 percent disapproval; and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) at 56 percent approval to 26 percent disapproval.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is the senator with the highest disapproval rating, with 50 percent disapproval to 36 percent approval, and also the only one among the least popular senators with disapproval ratings of at least 50 percent. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who won a third term in 2018 by 11 points despite being hit with federal corruption charges in 2015, has the second-highest disapproval rating. The Justice Department dropped the charges in January 2018 after a mistrial the previous November.
Menendez and McConnell were the only senators on the least-popular list with higher disapprovals than approvals. The five least popular were rounded out by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) with 46 percent approval and 41 percent disapproval; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), with 49 percent approval and 40 percent disapproval; and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), with 42 percent approval and 39 percent disapproval.
Morning Consult also found that Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) was the senator with the greatest portion of constituents who had not heard of him, at 43 percent. The pollster surveyed 472,802 voters from Jan. 31 to March 31. Morning Consult notes that the margin of error in the results differs for each senator.