Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, an AP-NORC poll finds

NEW YORK (AP) — Six months after Donald Trump’s presidential victory, Democrats remain deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, although neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party is viewed favorably by a majority of U.S. adults.

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.”

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.

Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, is less popular than Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez.

Just about one-third of Democrats have a somewhat or very favorable view of the 74-year-old senator, who took a hit from many liberals for acceding to a Republican-led funding bill that kept the government open. The share of Democrats who view Schumer positively has fallen since December 2024, when about half had a somewhat or very favorable view. Among all adults, his favorability stands at 21%.

“I just feel like the majority of the old Democratic Party needs to go,” said Democrat Monica Brown, a 61-year-old social worker from Knoxville, Tennessee. “They’re not in tune with the new generation. They’re not in tune with the new world. We’ve got such division within the party.”

On the GOP side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator, is more popular than several other high-profile Republicans.

About 6 in 10 Republicans view Rubio favorably, although that number falls to about one-third among all adults. About half of Republicans have a positive opinion of House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, while around one-quarter of U.S. adults feel the same. That’s roughly the same level of support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel host who earns favorable ratings from 44% of Republicans and about one-quarter of Americans overall.

Beyond their negative outlook on the future of their party, 55% of Democrats are also pessimistic about the way leaders are chosen in the U.S. The figure is up slightly from 46% last summer, when President Joe Biden was still in the White House.

Linda Sleet, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in Venice, Florida, raised specific concerns about the way congressional districts are drawn and the Electoral College that is used to determine presidential contests instead of the popular vote.

“I don’t have confidence in the system,” Sleet said. “I think it served a purpose way back when. It does not now.”

Williams, the Teamster from Illinois, said he’s unhappy with just about everything to do with U.S. politics.

“I’m going to need to see some wins for America, for humanity, before I can be optimistic right now,” he said. “Every day is just a constant barrage of negative feelings and news politically. It’s all screwed up right now.”

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Sanders reported from Washington.

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,175 adults was conducted May 1-5, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.