Why Is Democratic Favorability at a 35-Year Low?

The Democratic Party faces a conundrum. While President Trump struggles with voters on both his overall job approval rating and on his handling of specific issues, including immigration, tariffs, and the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Democrats are doing even worse with Americans.

In fact, Democrats find themselves at a 35-year low in terms of party favorability. A recent Wall Street Journal poll lays out the gory details:

The new survey finds that 63 percent of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party—the highest share in Journal polls dating to 1990 and 30 percentage points higher than the 33 percent who hold a favorable view.

That is a far weaker assessment than voters give to either President Trump or the Republican Party, who are viewed more unfavorably than favorably by 7 points and 11 points, respectively. A mere 8 percent of voters view the Democrats “very favorably,” compared with 19 percent who show that level of enthusiasm for the GOP.

What’s notable about the trend data below is that although net Democratic favorability (favorable – unfavorable) has been declining since the end of the Obama years, the sharpest drop occurred under the most recent administration—from roughly a 3-point net unfavorable rating just before Biden was elected in 2020 to a 30-point net unfavorable rating today.

---

---

What’s more, on every major issue except health care and vaccines, voters prefer congressional Republicans over congressional Democrats even as voters on average rate President Trump negatively on these same issues. For example, President Trump receives net negative job approval from voters on the two biggest priorities in the last election—the economy (-9) and inflation (-11). At the same time, congressional Republicans hold a 12-point advantage over congressional Democrats in terms of which party is best able to handle the economy and a 10-point advantage on inflation.

---

---

The WSJ poll doesn’t provide a clear answer about why Democrats are doing so poorly in voters’ eyes. But given past research and known trends, here are the leading theses:

1. Democratic leaders are perceived to be old and out of touch, and no new party figurehead has yet emerged. One obvious answer as to why Democrats are doing so poorly with voters is that nothing has really changed since the collapse of the Biden-Harris administration in last year’s election. President Biden’s age and declining capacities, and the lengths to which party leaders went to ignore or downplay it, left a permanently sour taste in the mouths of many Americans. Six months into a second Trump term, nothing appears to have dislodged these beliefs. Democrats are increasingly viewed as a washed-up party with uninspiring leadership. The palpable excitement among many NYC Democrats for a fresh new voice in Zohran Mamdani in his mayoral race against two older establishment Democrats makes sense given these dynamics.

2. “Anti-Trumpism” hasn’t improved the party’s image. Democrats have once again gone all-in on “resistance” politics and “anti-Trumpism.” Yet none of this anger and frustration with Trump has blossomed into rising sentiments for the out-party. Trump gets poor marks with voters all on his own, regardless of the opposition kvetching about him all the time. The party’s inchoate rage may actually aid Trump’s standing, as voters now clearly dislike and distrust Democrats more than they did before. Quite an accomplishment!

3. The Democrats’ cultural agenda is still unaltered and too radical. Quick round robin: What issue have Democrats moderated on since the election? Immigration? Trans issues? Crime? Climate change? Answer: none of the above. Democrats may have put their most distasteful rhetoric and ideas on ice, but with the exception of a few party renegades, they haven’t really cast any votes that show cultural adaptation or offered any truly moderate approaches on social issues. Voters aren’t dumb, though; they know when you’re fibbing or dodging the issue, as Democrats continue to do on their worst-performing agenda items.

4. The Democrats’ last economic plan was a dud, and they still have no alternative vision. “Bidenomics” was a colossal failure in the eyes of many voters. Considerable amounts of new government spending, new EV regulations, student debt elimination, and other expensive steps left no lasting impression with voters other than wasted money and high inflation. Where is the new infrastructure that was promised? Where are the lower prices from the “Inflation Reduction Act?” Voters may not be fully sold on Trump and Republicans’ new tax and tariff measures, but relatively speaking these economic policies are performing better with voters than Democratic alternatives that were in place just a few months ago. Until Democrats come up with a coherent approach to growing the economy, improving workers’ take-home pay, and reducing their household costs, voters will continue to favor Republicans on the economy, albeit with a skeptical, “prove it to me” attitude.

The best thing going for Democrats in this latest WSJ poll is that despite their abysmal image, they still maintain a slight 3-point lead in the generic congressional ballot (although this is more than half the size of their lead at a similar point in 2017 ahead of Republicans losing 40 seats and the House majority in the midterms), with a large percentage of Americans believing Congress isn’t doing enough to keep Trump in line. Fifty-seven percent of voters say Congress is doing too little “to act as a check and balance on Trump’s powers.” Thus, a basic 2026 message arguing for divided government to stop Republican overreach may be enough for Democrats to retake the House.

Ahead of the 2028 presidential race, however, Democrats have much more to do to show voters they have truly learned their lessons by offering up new voices without cultural baggage united behind a common pitch for economic uplift for America’s working- and middle-class families.