Public down on GOP

If the GOP was looking for a silver lining after devastating losses across the board in the Nov. 4 election, it won't find it in a new survey out today.

The Gallup survey found that only 34 percent of Americans view the party favorably and 61 percent see Republicans unfavorably. That unfavorable number is the highest for the party since the question was first asked by Gallup in 1992, and it's significantly less love for the GOP than a poll in mid-October, which put the split at 40 percent favorable and 53 percent unfavorable.

Democrats, meanwhile, continue to ride high: 55 percent view the party favorably, and 39 percent unfavorably. That compares to 53 percent positive and 42 percent negative last month.

While 91 percent of Democrats have a good view of their own party, the poll found only 78 percent of Republicans view their own party well. And among independents, 47 percent rate the Democratic party favorably but only 32 percent do so the GOP.

To recover, 58 percent of Republicans want the party to move in a more conservative direction, while only 12 percent say it should become less conservative.

The new survey was conducted Nov. 13-16 and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.