“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.”
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.
“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.
“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.
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.”
