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All of These Polls Have Catastrophic News for Democrats

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  March 17, 2025 2:00 PM

Not only did Democrats lose the presidential election last November, but they also lost control of the Senate and failed to gain control of the House. They don't seem to be learning any lessons ahead of the 2026 midterms. The polls continue to prove this to be the case, with many coming in over the weekend showing the Democratic Party in dire straits.

The CNN/SSRS and NBC News polls came out over the weekend, and they certainly didn't bring good news for the Democratic Party. 

According to the former, the Democratic Party has a favorable rating of just 29 percent, while 54 percent have an unfavorable view. This is a record low, going back over 30 years to 1992, which the CNN write-up highlighted. The 29 percent is a 20 point drop since January 2021, not long after January 6.

The only demographics where a majority have a favorable view of the party include Democrats (72 percent), liberals (52 percent), lean Democrats (63 percent), and those who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 (58 percent). Even then, the support isn't impressive. 

As the write-up mentions:

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Among the American public overall, the Democratic Party’s favorability rating stands at just 29% – a record low in CNN’s polling dating back to 1992 and a drop of 20 points since January 2021, when Trump exited his first term under the shadow of the January 6 attack at on Capitol. The Republican Party’s rating currently stands at 36%.

That’s driven in part by relatively high levels of dissatisfaction within the Democratic Party. Just 63% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents report a favorable view of their own party, a dip from 72% in January and 81% at the start of President Joe Biden’s administration. The decline comes across ideological wings, with favorability ratings for the Democratic Party falling by 18 points among liberals and moderates alike since the start of 2021.

Further, 51 percent consider the Democratic Party to be "too extreme," up from December 2022, when 44 percent said so. The party looks to be in disarray, given that Democratic respondents and Independents who lean Democratic say, by 52-48 percent, that Democratic leadership is taking the party in the "wrong direction." In September 2017, those numbers were 36-52 percent. 

Democrats and Democratic leaners want Democrats, by 57-42 percent, to work to stop the Republican agenda rather than for Democrats to work with Republicans. As the poll asked, "With Republicans in control of Congress and the presidency, in general, do you think the Democrats should mainly work (with the Republicans to try to get some Democratic ideas into legislation) or should mainly work (to stop the Republican agenda)?" Those numbers were at 23-74 percent in September 2017, during Trump's first term.

We saw disarray with Trump's speech before the joint session of Congress earlier this month, given liberal commentators believe that Democrats aren't doing enough. Symone Sanders-Townsend, who used to work for Harris, thoroughly mocked members for holding up signs to protest Trump's speech, because it didn't go far enough.

During her MSNBC show, "The Weekend," she announced that she's leaving the Democratic Party over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) caving to vote to move forward with the continuing resolution (CR), rather than shut down the government.

Schumer's not even seen as a leader in the party. Democratic voters were asked to name the leader they think "best reflects the core values," with only 2 percent saying Schumer. The person who got the most support is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a member of the far-left Squad:

Democrats, who overwhelmingly consider Trump too extreme, have yet to consolidate around any one-party leader to serve as a counterpoint. Asked in an open-ended question to name the Democratic leader they feel “best reflects the core values” of the party, 10% of Democratic-aligned adults name New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 9% former vice president Kamala Harris, 8% Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and 6% House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Another 4% each name former president Barack Obama and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, with Schumer joining a handful of others at 2%.

More than 30% didn’t offer a name in response. “No one,” one respondent answered. “That’s the problem.”

...

Ocasio Cortez’s stock in the party is especially high among those who describe themselves as liberal and those younger than 45, with roughly 1 in 6 within each of those groups calling her emblematic of the party’s values. No Democratic leader polled in the double digits among older adults or moderates on this metric.

There's been chatter that AOC may challenge Schumer for his Senate seat in 2028, and there's also been speculation she may run for president that year. 

The poll was conducted March 6-9. There were 1,206 U.S. adults who were surveyed, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. The poll included 504 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Another poll released this weekend came from NBC News. One such headline from NBC News, "Democratic Party hits new polling low, while its voters want to fight Trump harder," speaks not only to the record low approval, but a desire for Democratic voters wanting members to fight harder against Trump, showing that much more how much the party is in disarray.

Perhaps the NBC News poll is the most damning of all, with another record low of a 27 percent positive rating. This time that record low dates back 35 years, to 1990. 

The poll's write-up highlights similar findings from the CNN poll when it comes to Democrats in disarray over the direction their party is going in:

Just over a quarter of registered voters (27%) say they have positive views of the party, which is the party’s lowest positive rating in NBC News polling dating back to 1990. Just 7% say those views are “very” positive.

“With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand. It needs to be rebooted,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey along with GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.

The slump is partially driven by fed-up Democrats, according to the polling data, after they watched their party lose to Trump in 2024. And now, in a reversal from Trump’s first term, self-identified Democratic voters say they want their party to hold the line on their positions even if it leads to gridlock, rather than focus on finding areas of compromise with the president.

The poll illustrates the angst within the party driving backlash against the Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who sided with Republicans on a Friday procedural vote to advance a GOP-designed spending bill and avert a government shutdown.

...

A majority of voters (55%) say they have negative views of the party, including 38% who say those views are “very” negative.

...

The poll also finds that some components of the Democratic base have soured on the party as well.

Nearly 20% of Democratic voters say they have negative views of the party, while 10% of Republicans say the same about the GOP.

And a quarter of liberals view the party negatively, double the share of conservatives who view the GOP negatively.

The new low of positive feelings about the Democratic Party is still a few points higher than the Republican Party’s lowest-ever rating, from October 2013, when just 22% said they viewed the party positively amid a government shutdown.

Still, the next year, the GOP scored its biggest House majority in nearly a century after trouncing Democrats in the midterm elections.

The way the poll framed the question showing Democrats want their party to fight back against Trump, once again in stark contrast to his first term, shows they're even willing to say so at the cost of getting things done.

By 65-32 percent, Democratic voters say they want Democrats in Congress to "Stick to their positions even if this means not being able to get things done in Washington" as opposed to "Make compromises with President Trump to gain consensus on legislation." Those numbers were 33-59 percent in April 2017.

The poll was conducted March 7-11 with 1,000 registered voters and included a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

These polls not only show bad news for Democrats, but good news for Republicans. The CNN poll shows that Republicans support their party. As the write-up highlighted [emphasis added]:
By contrast, 79% of Republicans and Republican leaners currently take a positive view of the GOP. Political independents as a group take dim views of both parties, with 19% rating the Democrats favorably and 20% saying the same of the Republicans.

Both the Democratic and the Republican parties are viewed by about half the public as having views and policies that are too extreme, rather than generally mainstream. That’s a change from 2022, when most Americans – 56% – called the Democratic Party’s positions mainstream. Views of the GOP have remained effectively unchanged over that time.

Political independents remain likelier to see the Republicans as out of the mainstream – 57% call the GOP too extreme, while 48% say the same of the Democrats. But 16% of Democrats call their own party too extreme, while just 9% of Republicans say the same of the GOP.

The NBC News poll found that Trump enjoys double digit support for his handling of "Border security and immigration," 55-43 percent. Further, 36 percent say they consider themselves to be "a supporter of the MAGA Movement," the highest number since the question was first asked in April 2023. 

And, 44 percent of Americans say the country is headed in the "right direction" under Trump. NBC News' Steve Kornacki highlighted how this "really jumped," with that number up among Republicans and Independents. Tthe last time it hit above 40 percent was in 2012, and it was last 44 percent or higher was in 2004. 

These polls follow what others before it have also already shown. As Matt covered at the time in late January, a poll from Quinnipiac University shows Democrats with a 57-31 unfavorable rating, also a record low.

According to YouGov daily tracking, Democrats in Congress have an unfavorable rating of 59.5 percent, while just 33.9 percent have a favorable rating.

It's not just the results, but also how Democrats respond, which Matt highlighted earlier. One of those top Democrats currently is one of their most radical members, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). As the representative for the most blue district in Texas, she'll likely have that seat as long as she wants it, but she's not helping out others in her party.

Ramifications of such poll findings have been trending over X, including how the Democratic Party needs a "transformation," and how Democrats are experiencing record lows while Trump and Republicans are doing well.