The Democrats Have a Democrat Problem

We’re one year away from the 2026 midterm elections and a day before voters in New Jersey and Virginia elect governors – as good a time as any to assess the political landscape.

One takeaway from a new poll is that the Democratic Party has a problem … with its own voters.

The survey from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, conducted before the partial government shutdown, found a whopping 67% of Democrats say their own party makes them feel frustrated. Thirty percent go so far as to say they are angry with their side.

The frustration is way up from 2019 and 2021, when 50% and 48% of Democrats, respectively, said they felt frustrated with their party.

We saw something similar in the first polls about Obamacare. Among those expressing opposition to the law were Democrats who felt the Affordable Care Act – a heavily negotiated compromise approach to overhauling the nation’s healthcare system – did not go far enough.

In other words, when you see disapproval in a poll, don’t assume it’s all people who hate the concept. Many may mean they’re getting too much of a thing, but some will mean they’re not getting enough of it.

On balance, the Pew poll found widespread unhappiness with both parties. Sixty-one percent of respondents said Republicans are very or somewhat too extreme in their positions. Fifty-seven percent said the same about Democrats.

(If you want more evidence of the Democrats’ plight, an October CBS News/YouGov poll found 64% of those surveyed used “weak” as the top word to describe the party.)

Do the parties govern in an ethical way? Just 39% said so about Republicans, and 42% said that accurately described Democrats. Do they respect the country’s democratic institutions and traditions? Forty-four percent said Republicans do, while 53% said Democrats do.

On the economy, arguably the most critical issue, Republicans have seen their edge drop considerably from two years ago, with 38% of Americans saying they agree with the GOP’s economic policies. Thirty-five percent say the same about Democrats, only three percentage points lower. Republicans had a 12-point lead on this question in 2023.

Thanks to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, we’re getting a clearer picture of voters’ views of Trump and what his standing means – and doesn’t mean – one year out from midterms.

Overall, 41% of Americans say they approve of the job he’s doing, with 59% saying they disapprove. That’s the highest disapproval since a similar poll one week after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The president’s doing fine with Republicans, at 86% approval. And he’s doing dismally among Democrats, with 95% of them disapproving. But Trump is struggling with independents, among whom he has a 30% approval rating while 69% disapprove.

The Post poll had some pretty bleak findings for Democrats, with 68% of Americans saying the party is out of touch with their lives. Sixty-three percent say the same about Trump and 61% say so about Republicans.

All of which leads to the poll’s findings about which party would win the day if the midterm elections were held today: 46% of registered voters say they’d support the Democratic candidate in their district while 44% said the Republican and 9% said they would not vote.

Obviously, a lot can – and will – change before Americans go to vote. But Democrats need to find a way to energize their own voters if they’re going to retake the House.