2 key findings on Democrats' brand problem from the new CNN poll

[Omaha Steve]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/2-key-findings-on-democrats-brand-problem-from-the-new-cnn-poll/ar-AA1FYkCq

Story by Analysis by Aaron Blake, CNN • 8h

There’s new evidence that the Democratic Party’s reputation is in a bad place. That doesn’t mean the party is doomed, electorally speaking. There’s plenty of reason to doubt that, given lots of history and its performance in the 2025 elections thus far — but it is a complicating factor for the party’s path forward.

And a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS provides insights into the party’s problems. It’s worth a breakdown.

The poll, which was released Sunday, asked a battery of questions about how people view both parties. Perhaps most striking was that people were more likely to view the Republicans than Democrats as the party with strong leaders (40% to 16%) and even the “party of change” (32% to 25%).

Neither party won close to a majority in either category. But the former is notable because there is such a gulf between the two parties. And the latter is notable because the party that’s out of power is usually viewed as the party of change. Not this time.

FULL story at link above.

[gab13by13]

1. The problem is this,

The DNC has what, over 400 members, and meets what, twice a year? The executive council also meets, but c'mon man.

Time Matters.

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Dems need to label republicans as the party of BAD change and CORRUPT, INCOMPETENT leaders

While talking about the GOOD changes they support.

[OrlandoDem2]

3. Democrats need to become debt hawks, use insurance companies as a foil to beat, and call out corruption

Insurance companies need to become the Democrats’ foil. Hammered them hard!

Focus on affordable healthcare, affordable homes, affordable college education, etc.

We have corruption in our government at the highest level in “plane” sight. Hammer it.

But for God’s sake find an enemy to point at and say to Americans “see - they’re the problem and we are going to fix it”. Then find another e enemy. Notice that the GOP does this. If it’s not the Soviets, it was “the blacks”. Then it was “the gays”. Now they are fighting immigrants (and “the blacks and gays” but you get the point).

[Prairie_Seagull]

4. Our party needs, IMO to state it's goals clearly and succinctly and have it repeated

by those in power, ad nauseam. Ya know like a platform. This one thing, informing the electorate even if it hurts, I believe will answer many of the questions we all have. Relying on past achievements is not working well,,, enough.

Again, messaging. Duh!

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Just shows Americans have adopted the new definition of 'strong leaders'. It used to

be a strong leader exhibited statesmanship and stood up to international threats (see Ike, JFK, and Obama). Now it means being a blustering bully.

[tavernier]

6. I smell Rump's diaper

whenever CNN does another “POLL”

[Self Esteem]

11. lol you'd think after all the poll denialism last year proved utterly wrong, people would retreat in it...

Nope. Some of you just double down and then act shocked when we still get our teeth kicked in.

[tavernier]

14. IMO it has nothing to do with democrats making bad choices

or running bad candidates or having bad policies.
It simply comes down to the fact that Americans are being blatantly lied to 24/7 by billionaires who own and finance the news networks and the political patsies and game show hosts they can manipulate.
The one who owns the barrels of ink will control the story and the polls.

[Self Esteem]

16. Most Americans do not watch cable news - or any news.

Just look at FOX News. They average around 1.9 million total viewers.

Most Americans aren't even plugged into the news. And that should concern Democrats because they actually won those voters who are highly engaged and got beat by those who don't follow politics.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. Shows what happens when Rupert Murdoch sets the agenda.

NBCIABCBSFakeNoiseNutworks and alla Corporate McPravda are why people polled have soured on the Democratic Party.

Give them the truth and some context and it’s a different story.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. Dems play nice

I have been saying this for years here, but Dems need to look at what Reps do and reverse it.

Reps will take an extreme Liberal and make them the face of the Democratic Party, and they then tie it to events and places. The entire country thinks crazy things about California, Portland, and Chicago because of decades of Cons slandering those places and painting Democratic leadership as being responsible for every little thing that goes wrong there. Like shoplifting or homelessness in San Francisco which are complicated issues that have little to do with political leadership.

And here's where Dems fail. No Dem is out there pointing out what an absolute failure Conservative policies are in the deep red states. Democrats should start going on TV pointing out the dreadful living conditions in MS, AL, TN, WV, LA, and AR. Those states have total Republican rule and the results are a disaster for their citizens who are last in education, worst in crime, worst in incarceration rate, worst in health care and life span, worst in income inequality, have crumbling infrastructure and schools, have the most poverty, right on down the line it's an awful scorecard the deeper Red any place is.

If Trump has his way, the entire country will eventually look like rural Mississippi. No offense to anyone from there, but the poverty, crime, poor health, and hopelessness in a lot of those places in bordering on 3rd world level.

Dems don't do this, because they don't want to insult people in those places who need more help than anything. But you're basically opting not to use the best weapon in your arsenal, a clear look at how Republican Policies completely decimate communities. Why is shoplifting in San Francisco a regular topic of discussion, but the poverty Republicans give their voters in most of the South not?

[gab13by13]

9. Town Halls, like the one MSNBC did

for fired federal workers should have been the strategy.

Do town halls with specific issues and let real people in the audience tell their stories. That is what is compelling, and do the town halls in red districts.

A few Democrats held town halls in red districts but nothing was coordinated like I am talking about.

Time Matters.

[karynnj]

10. This is a troubling poll, but I think the context of what the last 4 months have been is important

In the last 4 months Trump has done a huge amount of things, some blatantly illegal. He has backed away from most of our allies, including NATO and Canada. He has cut whole agencies that Congress approved and funded for decades. He has created chaos with his TACO tariffs. He has ICE acting as his private police force. He is threatening everyone from Harvard to lawyers to anyone against him. You could say that he is acting like a Strong Man authoritarian leader. Needless to say, none of that is good.

As to change, it is only 5 months in and he is absolutely changing the country from what it was in January. He is changing a democracy, ruled by law to a country none of us recognize. Never in my lifetime as a president come in and completely changed almost everything unilaterally by his orders ... Except Trump. Now, as we approach 2026 and 2028, Democrats might become the party of change .. or restoring what existed before.

[Basso8vb]

12. Yes, we should be taking advice from MAGA bootlicking CNN.

They are NOT our friends.

[lees1975]

13. Hmm, put a couple of things together, like "strong leaders" and "the party of change" and what do you get?

It's not about making angry speeches or holding town halls in red counties, or the DNC forming a "War Room" to control messaging, if they indeed ever actually get around to doing that, or all of the appeals for money.

It's about the perception of actually doing something. The Democrats aren't doing anything, and so the other party is perceived as having the strong leaders and as the party of change. Democrats fell asleep at the wheel, and some of them are content to show up every now and then for a vote here and there, putter around in their office, and make sure they have their fundraising lined up while not doing anything worth a damn.

What's changed? Well, we no longer have Nancy Pelosi as speaker and minority leader. Huge change there. I like Hakeem Jeffries, but he is no Nancy Pelosi when it comes to strategy, innovation, getting under the GOP skin and being aggressive and bold. It's been a long time since we had dynamic leadership in the senate, and at a time when we need someone in there like Bernie Sanders or Chris Murphy, or Mark Kelley, we have Chuck Schumer, an old line, play it safe, status quo politician who still thinks it's 1980.

The most dynamic leader at the DNC is not the chairman. I had high hopes for Ken Martin, but the best ideas coming out of the DNC right now are David Hogg's. And the only movement I see with the potential of shifting votes to Democrats in 2026, with the possibility of gaining a majority in the mid-term, is coming from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Most of the Trump resistance is following their lead, or is doing its own thing through various chapters and leaders of Indivisible. I see few Democrats leading or following this, and it will cost them dearly if they don't wake up and smell the coffee.

[Self Esteem]

17. Trump will score points for looking like he's doing something.

That was the big difference between Day 1,461 for Biden and Day One for Trump. Biden got things done but he didn't showcase it well at all. Trump stepped into office, had every media member out there and rolled out Executive Order after Executive Order for multiple days so it looked like he was actually doing something. Americans might not have thought what he was doing was perfect but it was at least something.

I'm often reminded of the FDR quote about just that:

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

Despite Biden and Democrats routinely doing something, they frequently didn't thump their chests like Trump - and guess what? People notice.

I had plenty of conversations early in Trump's second term about how they aren't sure what he's doing will work but it's refreshing that he appears to be doing something.

And this is the only area Trump has ever excelled at as president: he knows how to drive media.

Democrats need to learn how to do it or people are going to continue thinking they're the party doing nothing.

[W_HAMILTON]

18. It's funny that you see Sanders's """movement""" as the one with the potential of shifting votes to Democrats...

...because I see it as the root cause of votes being shifted AWAY from Democrats for almost a decade now.

He's become the Pied Piper of the younger generation, deluding them into believing that both parties are the same and other similar ridiculousness that has depressed the Democratic vote. He has convinced them that """fighting""" for everything and getting absolutely nothing is more admirable than achieving actual PROGRESS. Hopefully they wake up and see this before 30+ years has passed and they look back and realize that they have accomplished as little for progressive causes as Republicans have -- or certain self-proclaimed """"progressive""" politicians.

[D_Master81]

15. Zero leadership

Seriously who is in charge of the Dem party right now. Shoot I’d have answered Republican to that question about leadership too. The problem is that we have been the party of anti Trump for so long that unfortunately Trump has normalized himself with enough people now that that isn’t enough of a strategy. We need to give people a reason to for us and a good candidate to vote for not just “we aren’t Trump”.