Known for his willingness to buck party leadership during the Trump era, Sen. Mitt Romney has a sizable popularity rating among Democratic voters in Utah, a statewide poll found.
Romney has 84% favorability among the state’s Democratic voters, more than double his approval among one-third of Republicans, according to a survey conducted by the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics.
Democrats are drawn to Romney because he speaks “his truth,” a concept not particularly “in vogue” within the GOP, Utah Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Merchant said.
“I have to be really honest. I’m slightly flabbergasted by the number of Republicans who don’t approve of his performance,” he told the Deseret News. “He’s certainly a conservative member of the Republican Party with really a singular exception, which is his unwillingness to go along with all of the antics and, frankly, undemocratic tendencies of Donald Trump.”
Romney, often a foil to former President Donald Trump during the two years of overlap in which both served in the federal government, was one of five Republicans who voted to proceed with an impeachment trial against Trump on Tuesday. The remaining 45 GOP senators voted against proceeding.
The Utah senator’s willingness to condemn Trump has earned him criticism from some on the Right. In an incident that went viral online, a Trump supporter confronted Romney in an airport, demanding an explanation for the senator’s actions.
“Why aren’t you supporting President Trump?” a woman can be heard saying off-camera. “You’re not supporting him.”
Delta Air Lines placed the passenger on its no-fly list.
The survey was conducted with pollster Scott Rasmussen between Jan. 12-15 and polled 1,000 registered Utah voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
