Democratic Party Handed Polling Blow

[edhopper]

https://www.newsweek.com/democratic-party-handed-polling-blow-heels-second-trump-term-2023222

In the Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday, 31 percent of voters have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, compared to 57 percent holding an unfavorable view.

"This is the highest percentage of voters having an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking this question," the poll notes....

...Voters appear to have a different opinion of the Republican Party as 43 percent have a favorable opinion versus 45 percent having an unfavorable opinion, the poll shows.

I am sorry to post this, but this is devastating and must be something we have to face.

[tableturner]

1. it's messaging!

They take a complete nothing and turn it into a big something.

We take a big something and turn it into a complete nothing.

They fight hard non-stop and win...we fight with a lot less intensity, and we get our asses kicked over and over. Even when we win, we win by less than we should for the same reasons.

Democrats should do what Republicans do to attack us with lies (but we can do it with the truth!), which is to have our reps and surrogates unrelentingly spew the truth with the same focus, repetition, and venom that the Republicans use when they spew lies!

[elocs]

25. Maga & Republicans engage in a street fight while Democrats fight a clean fight by the rules. Republicans laugh. n/t

[claudette]

27. yep

[Bluetus]

62. It is worse than that.

There are some Democrats who are speaking out in clear, forceful terms. But that is only about 5% of the Beltway Dems. For the other 95%, we are left to wonder if they even have any principles they are willing to fight for. THAT is why the polling is so bad.

I have an unfavorable view of the Dem Party. While the Republicans have been preparing for years for what they would do if they could take this election, it is as if we are only now thinking about how to oppose. That is not an effective party, and is surely reflected in the polling.

I think if the question were, "do you agree more with the views of Democrats or Republicans?", you would get a distinctly different result. THe issue is effectiveness. After 4 years of Merrick Garland, how can anybody think Democrats are able to deliver "equal justice for all"? We see DeJoy in high gear now dismantling and privatizing the USPS. Trump and Musk are able to fire thousands of employees the first day, and Biden couldn't get around to this in 4 years? That's not an effective party.

People want us to succeed, but we just can't seem to accomplish much when we are in power. And even now, after being brutally swept out of power by a 34X felon, we still have some Democrats talking about how important it is to find common ground with Republicans.

F that. This is exactly why the polls say what they do. Americans want us to fight for the things we say we believe in.

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Fuck that, wait a year when Dystopia settles in.

Then ask people what they think.

[Ms. Toad]

38. That won't necessarily change anything.

I'm not terribly thrilled with the Democratic party at the moment (favorability). That is completely unrelated to how disgusted I am by the Republican party (which party do I prefer).

We need to be independently respected, it we will always be at risk in a popularity contest (unfortunately how far too many people vote).

[yardwork]

40. I agree and a lot of others do too.

Trump is dismantling our institutions and the response from Democratic leadership is weak and small.

Our leaders need to be roaring.

[William Gustafson]

3. Quinnipiac?.... I don't trust them... they have been wrong for the last few years...

[Celerity]

14. I would have thought that 2024 would have helped disabuse folks here on DU from auto-slating major polls if

people do not like the results. Am I saying this poll result is spot-on accurate? No. But I am not going to dismiss it out of hand simply due to its results not conforming to my wishes and wants. I need to see the trends over time.

Only 10 polls (out of almost 300 that are rated) have a higher 538 star rating than Quinnipiac's 2.8 (out of 3.0)

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/

[PBC_Democrat]

4. We have serious brand communication issue

I believe we have a product and communications issue.

We lost 31 states, the HoR, the Senate, and the White House.
While the vote totals were much closer we can ignore the fact that both CA and NY Republican vote percentages increased in alarming numbers.

We hold 27 Governor's offices.

All of this while I firmly believe we have the best product and the best policies and the best ideas.

So why the disconnect? Some of our pundits and advisors are just misinformed, some are flat-out lying to keep their jobs.

Stephen A. Smith, a hard-core Democrat, has a lot of good advice for the party.

We need to have concrete reasons to oppose Trump's whack-a-doodle ideas and nominees, we can't just oppose everything! That paints us as obstructionist. That plays directly into Trump's plan and, for now, he has the bigger microphone.

We need to communicate with voters, show them that we have a better plan, convince them voting for Democrats is in their best interest.

[Keepthesoulalive]

6. If the voters cared about messaging they wouldn't vote for

Marjorie green or Tommy Tuberville . They love Trump because he is a bully and a grifter. You have a complicit media and billionaires without borders. Hate sells , DEI.

[DSandra]

20. Stop seeing it as a business

People don't want hollow words like a marketing campaign. They want the real deal. They want strong leaders that get things done. They don't want typical politicians that care more about their career than their constituents.

I believe in business but this is not merely a branding issue. People want the actual meat, not just the sizzle and appearance of it.

[Maru Kitteh]

5. This will not stop until we stop blaming "the media" and learn how to use them.

It’s hard medicine, but the fact is, what we are doing, isn’t working. We have to stop spinning ourselves into increasingly smaller circles.

[Keepthesoulalive]

7. I keep asking what do you propose to get through to the majority of White people

Every time he presses that hate button , they feel good. They have been doing the same thing since Nixon. How do you get them to care about this country and all of her people?

[GoodRaisin]

13. They really only care about themselves. This will self correct when they start to feel the

pain from voting against their own self interests. That’s on the way in the next budget reconciliation package of laws that effect cuts to the ACA and Medicaid. Those cuts are going to impact people of all color in a very big way.

[Historic NY]

8. Horrible but its them....

the only messaging was begging constantly for money.

[yardwork]

41. That's annoyed me this week.

I don't want texts from Hakeem Jeffries asking for money because of what Trump just did. I went home to stand up and shout!

[Cirsium]

9. Could be misleading

There are rank and file Democrats who are angry that the leadership does not fight back harder against Trump. Those people are not lost and they are not turning Republican, quite to the contrary. I don't know that to be the case, of course, but it is possible.

[ITAL]

16. I definitely think this is part of it

I know some left leaning folks that are really upset at Democrats right now because of the "disarray" and "weakness," but that doesn't mean they like the GOP, far from it.

[Sundance1220]

43. You are absolutely right

Just this week I sent an email to my senior senator (Schumer) and railed against the lack of fight in my own party, how they should be out there EVERY SINGLE DAY fighting against each and every lie that degenerate tells (I also said I realize that's a full time job). But not one dime will come from me until I see a party that's willing to go to the mattresses.

[oldmanlynn]

10. Its definitely republicans are far better controlling the narrative

Republicans control the image of Democrats

We don’t have enough loud speakers, pushing truth propaganda to overcome the constant disinformation strategies of republicans

[Celerity]

17. truth (no matter how many may want to not hear it):

Republicans control the image of Democrats

[WarGamer]

11. And yet... some people see the Way Forward as "more of the same"

Wake up people!!!

[Keepthesoulalive]

18. I'm woke

Anything else.

[JI7]

12. Didn't we win a special election recently ?

How about stop obsessing over polls whether they are good or bad for us.

[DaBronx]

15. Poll is directionally accurate in my opinion

It is a flashing red warning light that must be heeded.

A new strategy is desperately needed.
And with all hands on deck.
The current party leaders need reinforcements.

[JI7]

23. And we still won the special election

Democrats don't have to be popular. Focus on winning instead.

[DaBronx]

42. Two things can be true

At the same time. I agree we have to focus on winning but we have to have a strategy and clear messages.

[JI7]

57. What clear message ?

[delisen]

19. Go to Actual Poll before getting Upset

The Newsweek account is no substitute for the real thing.

[edhopper]

35. I did

the numbers from Newsweek are accurate.

https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3918

[delisen]

21. Over which period of time were respondents actually being polle?

The date given for the poll was January 29 but the pollster website states its polls are usually done over a 5 to 7 day.
period.
.If so in the case of this poll results would include many responses from before everything hit the fan in Trump’s Shock and Awe First Week Blitz.

an now we can add in this latest disaster on the Potomac,.

I think this poll may be already outdated.

[edhopper]

36. I think that would affect Trump's approval

but not the poll on the Democratic Party, who appear to be doing nothing to oppose him.

[betsuni]

22. If they approve of and vote for Republicans, it has nothing to do with Democrats. They like Republicans.

[RJ-MacReady]

24. newsweek is trash

And so is Quinipiac. However our party does indeed have issues to work out as evident by the election.

[claudette]

26. Maybe if they would

STOP voting FOR Dumpy's nominees it wouldn't be so low. I just do not understand those Dems who vote "Yes" to Dumpy's nominees. period.

[dem4decades]

28. While I have some ideas why, I hesitate to put them out here.

[pimpbot]

29. Biden had a huge list of accomplishments

But we never heard about them very much. He got pushed to the side half way through the election, but even before that, the low info voters had no idea what the democrats had done for them the last 4 years. All of that infrastructure stuff that GOP voted against, the GOP took credit for! and we let them! We just don't fight hard enough or shout loud enough. We shouldn't have to but thats just the way politics works right now.

We also need to go scorched earth if and when we regain any political power. Look at all the crap Trump and crew are doing in the first couple weeks. Its all EOs and political appointees. Democrats take FOREVER to "analyze" the situation and "come to a consensus". GOP had a plan and just acts on it. The low info voters like action. It might be very terrible actions but "hey at least hes getting stuff done!". Again, this isn't the way it should be but right now its how things work. The general public has a really low view of government right now so ANY action in their mind is good to "fix" it.

This is all going to take our own "project 2025" type plan. Of course we are a big tent party so its also hard to even come up with a plan that makes everyone happy, again why we seem to fail even with our successes.

What I do know is that we can't keep trotting out Schumer to stare at his podium and mumble through a "strongly worded letter". The optics right there are what Americans see as the problem with government.

[Yavin4]

30. Democrats failed to stop a 2nd Trump term, and they don't have an opposition plan to a 2nd Trump term.

What did folks expect?

[betsuni]

32. You mean American voters (and non-voters) and the Republican Party failed to stop a 2nd Trump term.

[Yavin4]

60. Nope

You want to be leaders? Then take responsibility of leadership.

[Cirsium]

70. No

Blaming the voters is just lazy. It is like blaming the consumers when no one buys your products.

[doc03]

31. It's not the Democratic party it is our feckless leadership. That was the conversation earlier this

week on Stephanie Miller with guest Malcom Nance. It was also the subject on Thom Hartmann a couple days ago. Since Trump
took office again our best spokesmen have been x-Republicans like Michael Steele, Rick Wilson and the Lincoln Project.
Trump is wrecking the country, and we have some mealy-mouthed response about our friends across the aisle. We need
someone that can speak Republican and take no prisoners.

[Blue Full Moon]

33. Maybe the silence is the problem

https://youtube.com/shorts/zBYoYr7NAZA?si=mCg5RjySaMbPCtiG

[Passages]

34. Leadership.

We need some desperately.

[Kid Berwyn]

37. News Media toil for the slave masters

Time of Useful Consciousness explains monetized mass propaganda and its impact - now more than a century in action...

Alex Carey said that the people of the US have been subjected to an unparalleled, expensive, 3/4 century long propaganda effort designed to expand corporate rights by undermining democracy and destroying the unions. Carey’s unique view of US history goes back to World War I and ends with the Reagan era.

https://tucradio.org/podcasts/newest-podcasts/alex-carey-corporations-and-propaganda-part-one-of-two/

And Part the 2nd:

https://tucradio.org/podcasts/newest-podcasts/alex-carey-corporations-and-propaganda-part-two-of-two/

The rich get richer, the middle class evaporates into poverty, where the poor get poorer, and democracy vanishes down the Memory Hole.

[SocialDemocrat61]

39. The problem is the corporate media

from FAUX News to CNN. The country’s media infrastructure is owned by the right wing organizations and individuals. Even a more progressive network like MSNBC has people like Andrea Mitchell and Katy Tur who will parrot GOP talking points while blaming democrats for everything wrong.

[bigtree]

44. 'sorry'

[edhopper]

45. Glad you think

diminished status of our Party funny.

[bigtree]

46. this is the lowest rating ever for what is traditionally a honeymoon period for an incoming president

...and you're portraying that as a loss for Democrats.

This isn't Democratic party advocacy, it's an inflating of a very poor poll for a republican party just elected into power.

Polling showing the losing party as unpopular isn't really something that should surprise anyone. It's the winning party with it's nose just above the water that's the news here, but I guess some folks just don't do Democratic party advocacy well.

[edhopper]

50. Trump always polls this poorly

yet he won and now completely controls the Government. His poll numbers are still more approve than disapprove, and his Party has a double digit higher approval than the Dems.
Glad you see this as good news.

[bigtree]

53. congress has passed nothing of the republican agenda yet

...so they sneak out this predictable survey showing the party people just elected into power is the more popular one in a compromised, traditionally republican leaning poll.

Come back when they pass planks of their extremely upopular agenda.

[edhopper]

64. I guess you haven't noticed

Trump doesn't need Congress to enact Project 2025 and loot the Treasury.

[bigtree]

66. I'm not boosting what Trump or republicans are doing or might do

...I'm focused on whatever lever Democrats can use without the benefit of the majority.

And yes, republicans will be able to ram through a lot of their agenda, but this is the time for us to double down on our political oppositon, not gloomcasting about our own party days into the republican presidency and the republican's complete control of Congress.

We're in the period, RIGHT NOW, where our activism and advocacy is needed to influence the public to influence republicans away from their destructive agenda.

All the more curious why anyone would think a poll like this means squat. The more meaningful surveys are public reaction to what Trump and his henchmen in Congress are revealing of their intentions, and where we can make them pause in the face of whatever public outcry we can help generate.

This party to party approval poll is misleading and inconsequential to what comes next.

[milestogo]

47. There is no Republican party.

[Initech]

49. Nope, it's now the Trump / Fox / Q party whether they like it or not!

[Initech]

48. The Democratic Party needs some serious rebranding.

Either that or we form a new liberal party to take on MAGA.

[dalton99a]

51. Democrats seemed to be paralyzed by immigration and inflation

and Republicans simply exploited those issues - and of course racism and misogyny

[edhopper]

52. You can't win when all you say is

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2025, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)

I agree with the Republicans, BUT....

[ismnotwasm]

54. I think

Screaming hysterically like Trump and the republicans do, hammering hard using exaggeration or untruths, such as ‘open borders’ is not effective for Democrats. This seems to be what a lot of people want . A Rugged response, slamming republicans down, pointing out the criminality, the hypocrisy, the corruption, both financial and moral of the republican party.

Prior to the election, I watched so many videos with this tone, about how Trump truly is. We literally have truth on our side here, because Trump is an objectively horrible person.

I watched the legal maneuvering used by Trump, maneuvers that largely worked for him— cause look at him now.

We tried. We exposed him. We exposed the republicans embrace of project 2025, we challenged the blatant gerrymandering of districts. We reached out to younger folks. We fronted a dynamic younger candidate. We have a great platform. We pointed out the stark difference between republicans and democrats. We have healthy social media. We have brilliant front people such as AOC, or Jamie Raskin. We raised a lot of money. We pass laws that truly help the economy, education access. We are compassionate, not just to our own, but to humankind.

Yet we lost.

“The both parties are the same” crowd won. The rabid hate for democrats, literally blaming them for Gaza crowd won. The tech bros won. The right wing churches won. The bigots won. The ‘fix the economy and social issues will fix themselves’ crowd won.

One of the reasons this is so hard is because the bad guys won, in the most literal sense, and yet we still have people claiming it’s the fault of the Democrats.

Fuck that.

[dsp3000]

55. until the D party pulls their head out of their asses i'm going to agree.

[everyonematters]

56. They just came into power. Give it some time. Eventually people will see that their policies aren't helping anyone.

[edhopper]

63. Sure, eventually

[True Dough]

58. How much more proof do we need

that Pete Buttigieg is the person for the job???

He appeared on Fox News numerous times and left their hosts stammering as he shot down their BS narratives very effectively.

That guy is the future of this party (along with a handful of others, of course).

[andym]

59. Democrats were blamed for inflation during the election which helped the party to lose the Senate as well

The Inflation Reduction Act didn't do enough-- some larger "big idea" initiative was needed, but it was too late once the GOP took the House in 2023.

HIgh costs of living put the Democratic Party on the defensive in 2024, allowing Trump to win despite his baggage. Kamala was too closely aligned with the President to overcome the blame cast on Democrats by Republicans.

Now, what is the Democratic Party promising the country? Not much, which of course is consistent with lacking power. The big message should be to oppose Trump and his economic brinkmanship by shouting to the rafters the party's opposition to dangerous economic policies, and proposing a new program that the GOP would never agree to aid US businesses and help with the high cost of living. Why include the latter, to keep in folks minds that Democrats have strong alternatives. To make folks want Democrats back in power. Trump's overreaching should help as well.

[Metaphorical]

61. Before we get too carried away with the handwringing

Trump just became president, and the news cycle is dominated right now with that. The Democrats lost, and losers of elections ALWAYS get hit especially hard immediately after an election. A lot of people right now are of a mind to give Trump a second chance, and frankly there's not a lot that can be done to change that right now - nobody is listening to the Democrats.

The reality that we face is that the only way that this is going to change is to let the GOP prove that they cannot govern. Trump's attempt to cut off all funding was a wake up call for many, the airliner crash was another, the big market selloff on Monday was the third, and was are less than two weeks after the inauguration.

Trump is TRYING to stoke a crisis. He will make the most outrageous taunts that he can (the crash was caused by DEI!) to get a response, then will use that as an excuse to seize more power. Eventually, the crisis will be used to justify suspension of the constitution and institution of martial law, and if Congress is sufficiently cowed, they'll let him. At his core, Trump is a mob boss, and these are mob boss tactics.

He doesn't have many constraints on him, but he does have some. For one, he has a razor-thin margin of control in Congress, and that could flip, especially in the House, especially if he continues to try to do things without Congressional approval. The courts are not quite back to parity, but Biden managed to get a lot of new judges into place. Finally, the midterms are now 21 months away. Opposition IS rising, a lot of people feel that the election probably wasn't legitimate (I'm one of them), but right now Trump has the advantage of Biden's good governance.

That won't last very long - unemployment is already going up again, more people are living hand to mouth at this point, inflation after finally getting under control is rising again. I think that Monday was a preshock of an incipient stock crash, and Musk and the Tech Bros are becoming more and more unpopular by the day, especially among the MAGA crowd, because they are PRECISELY the kind of elite that Trump has been railing against for the last eight years. MAGA is built around the idea that the average idiot is superior to all those smart moneyed people in power, but he is now embracing those smart people and turning his back on his MAGAs ... and that's going to hurt him.

Right now, the Democrats are holding fire. I personally think it's a wise move. The best we can do right now is hold the line, let the enemy shoot themselves in the foot, then ramp up things when the opportunity arises.

I'll also say this much - we need to plan for the contingency that Trump DOES seize power by nullifying the constitution. He's trying already, he has the corporate media in his pocket. That's going to mean setting up a resistance, and that's only going to happen if enough people get angry with him. We're preparing out here on the West Coast already.

[CTyankee]

65. Is the poll of 1,019 people nationwide BIG enough for accuracy?

I don't know a lot about polling but isn't accuracy dependent on SIZE of poll? Its size here seems small when you consider it's nationwide.

[edhopper]

69. pretty standard size for this type of poll.

[ShadesOfBlue]

67. It's like with the NBA

If you have non-stop declarations of how bad a product is, even if the criticism in unwarranted, shortsighted or blatant lies, the public eventually becomes swayed to those narratives and talking points. Especially if there is no pushback. The NBA has famous superstars like Charles Barkley blasting a league that is responsible for the millions he obtained during and after his playing career. Meanwhile the Dems have Democratic lawmakers and progressive podcasters saying mostly negative things about a party that has done far more for the American middle class than its Republican rivals. But you won’t find conservatives or Republicans bashing their own brand.

[Emile]

68. Sounds like we need to make a hard left turn.

[NowsTheTime]

71. FWIW At the bottom of Newsweek article: Survey was conducted Jan 23-27......

"The survey was conducted from January 23-27 among 1,019 nationwide "self-identified" registered voters."

That said: Sad state of affairs as I think Democrats are the only ones that can lead America to save our Democracy.

[edhopper]

72. Since then

more polls have come out that show the Dems with even lower approval.