Democratic voters aren’t too happy with their party

The Democratic Party is angry. Well, at least its voters are. 

After Democrat Kamala Harris lost last year’s presidential election, party activists and strategists pointed fingers at who deserves the blame. Now that President Donald Trump has taken office, signed many unpopular executive orders, and picked a host of unqualified Cabinet nominees, polling suggests the Democratic electorate is mad—seemingly because their elected officials are doing little to stop it. 

Sixty percent of registered voters view the Democratic Party unfavorably, compared with 33% who view it favorably, according to the latest Civiqs poll for Daily Kos. 

The results aren’t rosier with a closer look, either. Twenty-one percent of Democrats have an unfavorable view of their own party, and this number rises to 30% among Democrats ages 18 to 34. Thirty-five percent of Black voters have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, while the same is true for a staggering 63% of Hispanic voters. 

Their anger makes sense. The reaction from Democratic leaders to Trump’s return to power has been way more subdued this time than in 2017. The resistance appears to be dead, at least among elected officials. Many Democratic lawmakers, such as Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, have downright surrendered to the MAGA movement by helping to confirm Trump’s Cabinet nominees or trying to find common ground with the enemy. 

Poll after poll shows that the issues Democrats emphasized in November’s election—abortion rights and the protection of democratic values—were not as salient as the economy, border security, and immigration.

It’s important that the party understands this because it’s now on them to develop a more effective message going forward.

The most pressing issue is retaking the House in 2026. (The Senate is a much longer shot.) Luckily, history will be on their side since the president’s party usually has a bad midterm. That’ll be especially true if Trump’s planned policies—such as tariffs or trade wars or the dismantling of federal systems—backfire. 

If they do, Democrats will need to stoke the flames. For instance, Trump’s plan to gut the Department of Education is very unpopular. And it’s strange, at the very least, that the unelected billionaire Elon Musk is seizing hold of the federal government, influencing policies that will affect everyday Americans. Democrats’ most media-savvy members, like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, should be the party’s main mouthpieces—not Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer doing … whatever it is he’s doing.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York

Democrats took their first step at rebuilding this past Saturday. Party members elected Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, to be the new chair of the Democratic National Committee. Theoretically, Martin should ensure the national arm of the party, along with state parties, have an organized opposition and are fully funded for the 2026 and 2028 elections. 

In Congress, there are small signs of life too. On Monday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to his caucus outlining a 10-point plan for thwarting Trump’s agenda. 

“I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money … must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner,” he said.

But the challenge facing Democrats is not just that their party has a reputation for fecklessness but also that their voters have little faith in them. 

A recent survey from Quinnipiac University found that 57% of registered voters have a negative view of the Democratic Party, compared with 31% who have a positive view. This represents the worst unfavorable number for the party since the pollster started asking the question in 2008. Meanwhile, the Republican Party’s numbers—43% favorable, 45% unfavorable—represent the highest favorable number that Quinnipiac has ever recorded for the GOP.

Other polls paint a similarly gloomy picture for Democrats. 

Last month, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that 58% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents want the party to make “major changes or complete reform.” That marks a 24-point increase from when the pollster asked the same question after the 2022 midterms. 

Voters clearly want a reborn, revitalized Democratic Party. And that likely starts with a strong, cohesive message against the right. That means Democratic lawmakers using whatever leverage they have in Congress to foil Trump’s plans to shred the Constitution. That means creating and then exploiting divisions in the GOP—over tariffs, over radical spending cuts, over anything. This will allow the Democratic Party to expose to the public that Republicans do not have their best interests at heart.

This is a make-or-break moment for Democrats. Not only does the electorate need to see the crisis at hand, but it also needs to see that Democrats are the ones working to fix it. 

It’s not an easy task, but it’s much better than the alternative: surrendering to Trump.