A bombshell poll has blown the lid off the controversy surrounding Mitch McConnell’s health, reigniting claims of a cover-up.
It has now been 38 days since the 84-year-old senator vanished from public view after he was loaded into the back of an ambulance.
At the time, a 911 call revealed he had apparently had a heart attack, was unconscious, and had received CPR.
Since then, McConnell’s team has provided few details about his condition. His longtime aide Terry Camack, who earns $226,000 a year and has worked with McConnell since 2010, has declined to say whether the senator has even spoken with his staff in recent days.
As a result, speculation has mounted over the state of McConnell’s health, and whether he is even still alive.
And new polling shows that voters are not certain that the Senator will live to see the end of his term in 2027.
A new Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, conducted between July 17 and July 20 among 1,021 registered voters, found that only 9 percent are “very confident” McConnell will remain alive through the end of his term. Another 17 percent are somewhat confident, while nearly half of voters are doubtful—including 24 percent who are not very confident and 25 percent who are not confident at all.
The poll also found that 30 percent of voters say claims that McConnell is no longer alive are at least somewhat believable.
By comparison, just 17 percent said such claims were not at all believable, while others were either unconvinced, uncertain, or declined to take a position.
Despite the silence from McConnell’s team, there are some signs that he is still alive.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican whip John Barrasso, and CNN commentator Scott Jennings have each claimed they spoke with McConnell during the week of July 6.
The Daily Beast has also established that taxpayer funds are being spent on a semi-permanent guard on the Washington D.C. hospital where he was taken on June 14.
That means a row of black Capitol Police unmarked SUVs now sits outside the George Washington University Hospital, but with no sign of the senator.
The closest thing to public confirmation of McConnell’s condition came on July 12, when his office released a photograph and statement said to be from the senator. The image showed the Kentucky Republican seated on what appeared to be a hospital bed, wearing jeans and a button-up shirt while smiling beside his 73-year-old wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
The release did little to quiet speculation. Instead, it triggered a wave of skepticism online, along with a flood of memes and AI-generated videos from critics—including prominent MAGA figures—who questioned whether the image was authentic.
In the statement, McConnell said he was “briefly unconscious” when he was first hospitalized and had undergone tests to determine what caused his fall. It also said he had been treated for mild pneumonia and transferred to a rehabilitation facility.
“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” the statement read, adding that he was now “regaining my strength.”
But the new poll suggests many voters believe the public was kept in the dark for too long.
Fifty-four percent said McConnell should have disclosed his health issues earlier, while only 20 percent said he was right not to, and 26 percent remained unsure.
The Daily Beast has contacted McConnell’s office for comment.
With McConnell still out of public view, Republican allies are increasingly pressing for his return as the party faces a difficult fight to protect its narrow Senate majority ahead of the November midterm elections.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, 71, warned that Republicans cannot afford to be without McConnell’s vote in a chamber where every seat carries enormous weight.
“Somebody needs to do something. Somebody needs to come out and put a little video out,” Tuberville told journalist Nicholas Ballasy on Tuesday. “We didn’t get any information today in our luncheon. I don’t know why, what’s going on, but that’s not my business; that’s the leadership’s business, and we wish him well.”
“Hopefully he gets over whatever happened. He’s had a tough couple of years, you know, from falling, hitting these hard floors and all that,” he added.
Tuberville even set a timeline for McConnell to return.
“He’s gonna need to come back probably before this three-week session’s over with, because then we’re off for like five weeks,” he said. The Senate is scheduled to go into recess on August 8 and won’t return until September 14.
“We’re gonna need him because the Democrats’ not gonna give us any votes,” Tuberville added.
Before his hospitalization in June, the 84-year-old senator had already raised concerns about his health after a series of falls and several public episodes in which he appeared to freeze during remarks, while often being seen moving around Capitol Hill in a wheelchair.
