Bad news for the Swamp, but especially for Dems.
With many in the party saying publicly that their leaders should do more to stand up to President Donald Trump, Democrats and Democratic-aligned independents say, 57% to 42%, that Democrats should mainly work to stop the Republican agenda, rather than working with the GOP majority to get some Democratic ideas into legislation.
Democratic-aligned adults say, 52% to 48%, that the leadership of the Democratic Party is currently taking the party in the wrong direction. That’s another shift from eight years ago, when views on this metric were largely positive.
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%.
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.
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.
Democrats, who overwhelmingly consider Trump too extreme, have yet to consolidate around any one-party leader to serve as a counterpoint.
And while the party leadership earns positive reviews from most Democratic-aligned women (57% of whom say they’re taking Democrats in the right direction), people of color (57%) and those without college degrees (60%), just 38% of men and 32% of White college graduates say the same.
