Favorable views of Democratic Party lowest in decades: Polling

Favorable views of the Democratic Party are at their lowest in three decades, a new poll revealed, as the party seeks to regain enthusiasm and power in Congress following significant 2024 election losses.

The CNN poll, released early Thursday, found Democrats garnering just 28 percent favorability — a slight decline from March’s record low of 29 percent. On the other side, the unfavorability came in at 54 percent, with 3 percent saying they had “never heard” of the party and another 16 percent who said they had “no opinion.”

Following the November elections in which the Republicans gained control of the House, Senate and White House, Democrats have struggled to redefine the party. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) earlier this year announced an event called “Organizing Summer” which is aimed at building enthusiasm on the left, creating a network of volunteers and registering people to vote ahead of the midterms in 2026.

The program, focused on states the party deems as top “battlegrounds” for gubernatorial, House and Senate races, is a coordinated effort by the Democratic campaign arms of various bodies of government: the DNC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association and the Association of State Democratic Committees.

Democrats have leaned on immigration raid protests, cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs in the recently signed tax and spending bill and chaos around files in disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s case as fodder for upcoming races. Still, polling averages across the spectrum show the party may be underwater.

In some cases, voters and prominent activists within the party have called for a new generation of leaders.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos survey featuring self-identified Democrats found that about 62 percent backed the idea that party leadership should be replaced.

Democrats have also been grappling with how to up their game when it comes to social media in the wake of an election cycle where they acknowledged they were handily beaten by Republicans on multiple platforms.

In the same CNN poll, the Republican Party garnered 33 percent favorability and 51 percent unfavorability, while 3 percent of respondents said they had “never heard of” the party and 13 percent said they were aware of it but had “no opinion.”

The CNN poll was conducted from July 10-13 and featured 1,057 respondents. The margin of sampling error is 3.5 percentage points.