CNN
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According to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, the Democratic favorable rating among Americans is a record low, partially driven by blemishing views from its own frustrating supporters.
Many of the parties have publicly said they should do more to stand up to President Donald Trump, so 57% to 42% of Democrats and Democrats say Democrats should work primarily to stop the Republican agenda.
The investigation took place on March 6-9, when 10 Democrats, including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, voted for Republicans to advance the GOP’s obsessed spending bill to avoid government shutdowns, and challenge the crappy of many other Democrats and progressive critics.
The majority desire to fight the GOP shows a major shift in the party’s stance since the start of Trump’s first term. A September 2017 poll found a 74% majority of Democrats and Democrats Reenler found that their party should work with Republicans to work together to advance their priorities, and only 23% advocate a fighting approach.
Adults distributed to Democrats say 52% to 48% say Democrat leaders are currently moving the party in the wrong direction. This is another shift from eight years ago when views of this metric were largely positive.
Among the entire American population, the Democratic Party’s support rating is only 29%. This is a record-breaking record for CNN votes dating back to 1992, falling 20 points in January 2021 after Trump ended his first term under the January 6 attack on Capitol. Republicans currently rank 36%.
It is driven in part by a relatively high level of dissatisfaction within the Democrats. Only 63% of Democrats and democratic independences report their party’s favorable views. It reports a decline from 81% at the start of President Joe Biden’s administration, from 72% in January. Decline has led to the ideological wing, with a favorable rating for the Democrats, which has dropped 18 points between the Liberals and moderates since their inception in 2021.
In contrast, 79% of Republicans and Republicans now have a positive view of GOP. Political independence as a group took the dim view of both parties, with 19% saying Democrats favorably and 20% saying Republicans the same.
Both Democrats and Republican parties are viewed by about half of people who are generally not mainstream and have too extreme opinions and policies. This is a change since 2022, when most Americans (56%) called the Democratic position the mainstream. The GOP’s view has not changed effectively during that time.
Political independences remain likely to view Republicans as out of the mainstream, with 57% calling the GOP extremely high and 48% saying the same thing about Democrats. But while 16% of Democrats call their party to extremes, just 9% of Republicans say the same thing as GOP.
The public continues to draw out the distinction between Trump and his party. Americans are down from the 18-point gap in 2022, but are 9 points more likely to call a president that is too extreme than the Republican Party as a whole.
Democrats who overwhelmingly believe Trump is becoming too extreme have yet to consolidate one party leader’s leader to serve as a counterpoint. Asked in open-ended questions to name Democratic leaders, they feel that the party is “best reflected”; Ten percent of the adults in the Democratic Alliance are New York State Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former vice president Kamala Harris, 8% Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and 6% minor leader Haquem Zifriedes. There were also 4% of each name President Barack Obama and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, with Schumer joining just a handful of others at 2%.
Over 30% did not provide names accordingly. “There’s no one there,” one respondent replied. “That’s the problem.”
Little is known about Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who made the party’s response to Trump’s presidential speech this month. Another question reveals that nearly three-quarters of Americans have never heard of her or have no opinions, while the rest are almost divided into their opinions. Slotkin is little known in her party, but the democratic adults expressing her views are largely positive, with 24% favored by 6%.
Ocasio-Cortez’s shares within the party are particularly high among those who describe themselves as liberals and people under the age of 45, and there is about one in six of each of the groups that call the party’s values symbols. On this indicator, no Democratic leader voted in double digits among older people or moderates.
The views of democratic adults about their party and their leadership are also sharply divided along demographic boundaries, polls find. Those who call themselves Democrats are far more likely (72% to 37%) than independents who leaned towards the party to express their favorable views, and party leaders are in the right direction (53% to 34%).
And while party leaders have earned positive reviews from most Democrats (57% say they are taking Democrats in the right direction), people of color (57%) and those without a university degree (60%), 38% of men and 32% of white college graduates say the same thing.
In contrast, the demographic majority wants to see Democrats work to stop the Republican agenda. There is little sunlight between the views of people who describe themselves as Democrats and those who leaned towards the party. The only group alongside the Democrats who support compromise are moderates. They say Democrats should try to work primarily with Republicans, between 51% and 48%.
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS from March 6-9 in a random national sample of 1,206 US adults drawn from a probability-based panel. The survey was conducted online or via telephone with a live interviewer. All adult results have a margin of sampling error of ±3.3 percentage points. The results for 504 Democrats or Democrats have a margin of sampling error of ±5.0 percentage points.
CNN’s Jennifer Agiesta and Edward Wu contributed to this report.