Poll Shows Dems in Congress Scratching the Bottom

Less than 20% of registered voters approve of the job Democrats are doing in Congress, with a majority of Democrat voters saying they disapprove, a new Quinnipiac poll found.

According to the survey, just 19% of voters approve of how Democrats are performing in Congress, which is the lowest rating recorded by Quinnipiac pollsters since they began asking in 2009.

A 72% majority said they disapprove, and 10% said they had no opinion.

The share of those who disapprove outweighed those who approve even among Democrat voters, the poll found, with 52% saying they disapprove of their party's congressional officials, and 39% saying they approve. Nine percent did not answer.

While congressional Republicans fared better than their Democrat counterparts in the survey, their approval rating was far from a ringing endorsement, with only 33% of voters saying they approve of Republican lawmakers' job performance, and 62% saying they disapprove. Among Republican voters, 77% said they approve of their party's congressional officials versus 20% who said they disapprove.

"If the approval numbers for Republicans are bad … then the approval numbers for Democrats can be characterized as flat-out terrible," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.

The grim numbers are indicative of the Democrat Party's inner turmoil. For months, the party has struggled to coalesce around a national leader and identify a front-runner for the 2028 presidential race. Polls from CNN and NBC News this year revealed the party's favorability rating plunged below 30%, while last month's Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 62% of Democrat voters say new leadership is needed.

Tensions between party candidates have also flared, as when democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani pulled off an upset victory to win the Democrat nomination for the New York City mayoral race, which alarmed the party's establishment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have not yet endorsed Mamdani, and there are reports that the mayoral hopeful's allies are planning to primary Jeffries and Democrat incumbents in the city.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten resigned from the Democratic National Committee last month, saying she is "out of step" with DNC Chairman Ken Martin. Weingarten openly supported former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg's effort to primary party incumbents.

The poll comes as the National Republican Congressional Committee reported it raised more in the second quarter of 2025 than its across-the-aisle counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The NRCC pulled in $32.3 million in the second quarter, while the DCCC brought in $29.1 million in the same period. The year-to-date funding hauls show a similar gap, with the House GOP campaign arm having raised $69 million in 2025 and the House Democrat campaign arm having raked in $66 million.