A new poll conducted earlier this month by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about one-third of Democrats are “very optimistic” or even “somewhat optimistic” about their party’s future.
That’s down sharply from July 2024, when about 6 in 10 Democrats said they had a positive outlook.
“I’m not real high on Democrats right now,” said poll respondent Damien Williams, a 48-year-old Democrat from Cahokia Heights, Illinois. “To me, they’re not doing enough to push back against Trump.”
The poll comes at a critical moment for the Democratic Party, which is desperately seeking momentum after losing the White House and both chambers of Congress in last fall’s general election.
In the survey, Democrats offer mixed reviews for some of their party’s best-known elected officials — including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both of New York — while reporting significant concerns about how leaders are chosen in the U.S. political system.
Williams, a member of the Teamsters union, said he likely won’t feel good about his party again “until somebody steps up in terms of being a leader that can bring positive change — an Obama-like figure.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are slightly more optimistic about the future of the GOP than they were last year.
The poll finds that about half of Republicans, 55%, are very or somewhat optimistic about their party’s future, up from 47% last summer.
Still, only about 3 in 10 Republicans are optimistic about the state of U.S. politics, up from about 1 in 10 last summer.
Patrick Reynolds, a 50-year-old Republican community activist and pastor from Fort Worth, Texas, says he has conflicting feelings about Trump’s leadership and the future of his party.
He worries that too many Republicans in Congress are falling in line behind the Republican president and his chief ally and adviser, Elon Musk, who has led Trump’s push to slash the size of the federal government.
Reynolds also says he’s concerned that Trump’s aggressive moves to combat illegal immigration may be violating the Constitution.
“How can we be the party of the rule of law when we’re violating constitutional principles?” Reynolds said. “I think there could be a (political) backlash.”
Reynolds also says he’s concerned that Trump’s aggressive moves to combat illegal immigration may be violating the Constitution.
Neither political party is especially popular right now.
Overall, about 4 in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable view of the Republican Party, while about one-third have a positive view of the Democratic Party.
This relatively weak support extends to some of each party’s most prominent officials.
Roughly 4 in 10 Americans have a favorable view of Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has twice run for the Democratic presidential nomination and has toured the nation in recent months rallying anti-Trump resistance.
Among self-described Democrats, about three-quarters view Sanders favorably.
About half of Democrats have a favorable view of Ocasio-Cortez, who has joined Sanders on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.
She is less popular among U.S. adults overall — about 3 in 10 have a favorable opinion of the 35-year-old representative, who is sometimes mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.