House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected polling that showed Democrats holding an advantage ahead of next week’s midterm elections. During an appearance on FNC’s “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson doubled down on his earlier claim that the surveys were wrong.

Host Shannon Bream pressed Johnson about the network’s latest power rankings and what they could mean for control of the House. “OK, so let’s talk through a couple of our new Fox News power rankings,” Bream said.

The figures presented by Bream listed 219 seats as solidly Democrat and 198 as Republican, leaving another 18 seats classified as toss-ups. The forecast described two potential election night outcomes, and neither had Republicans taking the majority.

“If things go really well for Democrats, they end up with 237 seats,” Bream said. “A good GOP night, our forecasters have, has 219 for Democrats.”

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Bream noted that the Republican Party would remain in the minority under either forecast presented by the network. She then asked Johnson to explain why he believed those predictions were wrong.

“Those polls are wrong. They’re based on faulty analysis,” Johnson replied.

Johnson argued that recent polling has not accurately measured Republican participation. He pointed to two polling organizations that he said had been exposed over their numbers and said more traditional polling groups were acknowledging that Republicans had been sampled at insufficient levels.

“Look, in the last week, Shannon, you’ve had two polling organizations nationwide be exposed for completely fraudulent numbers and the more traditional researchers and poll organizations are acknowledging that they’ve been under-sampling Republicans,” Johnson said.

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The speaker also cited a CNN story published less than a week earlier. According to Johnson’s description, the story examined October polls and found a repeated pattern of Republican voters being under-sampled.

“In fact, CNN ran a story less than a week ago, and they said that 14 out of the last 16 October polls in those elections, they under-sampled Republicans by an average of four points,” Johnson said. “Republicans are no longer responding to polls.”

Johnson contrasted those polling results with what he said he had personally encountered while traveling across the country. He said he had visited 21 states and 39 districts during the previous three weeks, with his schedule focused on swing districts where Republicans were trying to turn Democratic seats Republican.

“Look, I’m going all around the country, Shannon. I’ve been in 21 states, 39 districts, just in the last three weeks,” Johnson said.

The speaker said hundreds of people had attended the events he visited. He characterized the enthusiasm at those gatherings as comparable to the excitement level during 2024.

“I’m going to the swing districts, the places where we’re going to flip blue seats to red, and we’re having hundreds of people turn out for these events. It’s excitement level like 2024,” Johnson said.

Johnson also described an informal question he poses to crowds while appearing in large arenas. He asks attendees to raise their hands if they have responded to a poll during the previous six months.

“And this is what I do — when I’m in these big arenas, Shannon, I ask for hands,” Johnson added. “Show me your hand if you’ve answered a poll in the last six months.”

According to Johnson, only a tiny number of people typically raise their hands. He offered an example in which just three people among a crowd of 300 indicated they had recently answered a poll.

“They’ll be like three hands among 300 people. I’m telling you — these polls are off, all of them, because they’re using faulty analysis,” Johnson said.

His argument rested on the gap between the network forecasts and the Republican enthusiasm he said he was witnessing in competitive districts. Rather than accepting projections that placed Democrats ahead under both scenarios, Johnson maintained that inadequate Republican participation was distorting the surveys.

The exchange left Johnson firmly rejecting the idea that the Fox News power rankings had settled the coming House contest. With election night approaching, the speaker stood by his assessment that the polling methods were missing Republican voters and producing faulty results.

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