CNN Poll: Democratic Party’s favorability drops to a record low
The Democratic Party’s favorability rating among Americans stands at a record low, according to a new CNN poll
conducted by SSRS, fueled in part by dimming views from its own frustrated supporters.
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.
The survey was taken March 6-9, days before 10 Democratic senators — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — voted with Republicans in the chamber to advance a GOP-authored spending bill to avert a government shutdown, much to the chagrin of many other Democratic lawmakers and progressive critics.
The majority’s desire to fight the GOP marks a significant change in the party’s posture from the start of Trump’s first term. A September 2017 poll found a broad 74% majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners saying their party should work with Republicans in an attempt to advance their own priorities, and just 23% advocating for a more combative approach.
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%.
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.
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 public continues to draw a distinction between Trump and his party. Americans are 9 points likelier to call the president too extreme than to say the same of the Republican Party as a whole, although that’s down from an 18-point gap in 2022.
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.”
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who delivered the party’s response to Trump’s presidential address this month, remains largely unknown. A separate question finds that nearly three-quarters of Americans have never heard of her or have no opinion of her, with the remainder roughly split in their opinions. Slotkin is scarcely better known within her own party, although Democratic-aligned adults who do express a view of her are largely positive, 24% favorable to 6% unfavorable.
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.
Democratic-aligned adults’ views of their party and its leadership also divide sharply along demographic lines, the poll finds. Those who call themselves Democrats are far likelier than independents who lean toward the party to express favorable views of the Democrats (72% to 37%), and to say the party’s leaders are taking it in the right direction (53% to 34%).
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.
By contrast, majorities across demographic lines say they want to see Democrats work to stop the Republican agenda, with little daylight between the views of those who describe themselves as Democrats, and those of independents who lean toward the party. The only remaining Democratic-aligned group to edge in favor of compromise are moderates: they say, 51% to 48%, that Democrats should mainly try to work with Republicans.
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS from March 6-9 among a random national sample of 1,206 US adults drawn from a probability-based panel. Surveys were either conducted online or by telephone with a live interviewer. Results among all adults have a margin of sampling error of ±3.3 percentage points. Results among the 504 Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents have a margin of sampling error of ±5.0 percentage points.
