Democrats' favorability ratings sank to a record low in the latest CNN poll released Sunday.
Opposing the popular-vote winner in President Donald Trump, obstructing his agenda and efforts to cut government waste, fraud, and abuse, and threatening to shut down the government by rejecting their own President Joe Biden-era spending levels in a continuing resolution did not sit well with registered Democrats and left-siding independent adults.
Even a majority of Democrat adults (52%) are saying the leadership of the party is taking things in the wrong direction.
That eye-popping poll result flips the majority that had sided otherwise eight years ago at the start of the first Trump administration, according to CNN.
Democrats' favorability has dropped 20 points since January 2021 when Biden first took office after Jan. 6, falling now to 29% – a record low dating back to 1992 when former President Bill Clinton came in to defeat sitting President George H.W. Bush. The Republican Party had held the White House for three full terms through former President Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush before Clinton was elected in 1992.
Democrats and Democrat-siding independents give their own leaders just 63% favorability, which is down from 72% in January and 81% at the start of the Biden administration.
Republicans are far more happy with their leaders, as 79% of Republicans and GOP-siding independents have a favorable view of Republicans.
House GOP Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has called Democrats "leaderless" and "rudderless," and those polled largely agree.
When asked who among Democrats "best reflects the core values" of the party (with no names and just a blank space to respond):
- 30% did not name someone.
- 10% said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
- Former Vice President Kamala Harris 9%.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., 8%.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., 6%.
- Former President Barack Obama 4%.
- Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, 4%.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tied with many others at 2%.
"No one: That's the problem," one respondent wrote, CNN reported. "That's the problem."
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS from March 6-9 among 1,206 U.S. adults. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. In the Democrats' sub-sample of 504, the margin of error is plus or minus 5.0 percentage points.