Shock poll shows just how low the Democrats have fallen with Trump in office

By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-16 14:43:08 | Updated at 2025-03-17 05:19:05 14 hours ago

By SARAH EWALL-WICE, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 14:26 GMT, 16 March 2025 | Updated: 14:41 GMT, 16 March 2025

Approval of the Democratic Party has hit a brutal record low as Democrats are split over how to take on President Donald Trump in the first few months of his second term, new polling finds.

Among Americans overall, the Democratic Party's favorability rating stands at just 29 percent, CNN found. 

It's the lowest favorability the party has seen since CNN first started conducting its polling back in 1992. 

It's also a 20 point drop in approval since Trump left office more than four years ago at which time approval of the Democratic party was 49 percent. 

It's also a ten point drop from just before the November election.

At the same time, a new NBC News poll released Sunday similarly found only 27 percent of voters had a positive view of the Democratic Party. That was the lowest positive rating in NBC News polling history dating back to 1990. 

The CNN polling released Sunday was conducted just days before ten Senate Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues in a vote to advance a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in a move that has deeply divided the party even further. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was among the Senate Democrats to vote with Republicans, infuriating House Democrats including their leadership which remained united against the bill. 

Some Democrats are now calling for Schumer to step down as a Democratic Party leader while others have said he should be challenged when he's next up for reelection in 2028. 

The record low approval of the Democratic Party has been driven by increased dissatisfaction from within, the CNN polling found.

Just 63 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning Independents had a favorable view of their own party, a drop from the 72 who had a favorable view of their party in January and 81 percent when President Biden took office. 

Democrats are also torn over the direction of their party should take, the polling found. 

Among Democratic-aligned adults, 52 percent said that the party leadership is taking the party in the wrong direction while 48 percent said they are taking the party in the right direction. 

The polling was conducted just days before Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer along with nine other Senate Democrats voted to advance a GOP House spending bill to avert a government shutdown on Friday. The move set off an avalanche of criticism from some Democratic lawmakers and activists who called for Democrats to remain united against the Republican agenda and President Trump

At the same time, a growing number of Democrats want the party leadership to do more to stop the Republican agenda as Trump barrels through the first two months of his second term. 

The polling found 57 percent believe the party should do more to stop the GOP agenda while just 42 percent believe party leadership should work with Republicans. 

CNN noted that is a dramatic shift from Democrats' views nearly eight years ago. A September 2017 poll from Trump's first term found 74 percent of Democrats believed their party should try to work with Republicans.

Meanwhile, the favorability of the Republican party among Americans stands at 36 percent including 79 percent approval among Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents. 

The approval of Republicans has remained steady since January and is down just four points from just before the November election. It's a four point uptick from where GOP favorability stood when Trump left office in 2021. 

While approval of both parties remain low, Americans on both sides of the political divide see the other party as too extreme. 

Overall, 51 percent of Americans view the Democratic Party as too extreme while 48 percent view it as generally mainstream. That includes 89 percent of Republicans and 48 percent of Independents who view the party as too extreme while 16 percent of Democrats do as well. 

At the same time, 50 percent of Americans view Republicans as too extreme while 49 percent view the party as mainstream. 84 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Independents view the Republican Party as too extreme, but only 9 percent of Republicans do. 

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