GALLUP: Democratic Party Image Drops to Record Low

[yurbud]

Source: GALLUP

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' favorable rating of the Democratic Party dropped to 41% in a late March USA Today/Gallup poll, the lowest point in the 18-year history of this measure. Favorable impressions of the Republican Party are now at 42%, thus closing the gap between the two parties' images that has prevailed for the past four years.



Gallup last measured party images in late August/early September of last year. At that point, the Democratic Party enjoyed an 11-point favorable image advantage over the Republican Party. Now, the favorable ratings of the two parties are essentially tied.

The images of the two major parties have particular significance in a midterm election year. For example, the favorable rating of the Democratic Party exceeded that of the Republican Party by 52% to 37% just prior to the 2006 midterm elections, in which the Democrats gained 31 House seats.

Americans' current 41% favorable rating of the Democratic Party is five points lower than the party's previous low, recorded twice in 2005.

Read more: http://www.gallup.com/poll/127262/Democratic-Party-Image-Drops-Record-Low.aspx?version=print

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Passing a health care bill that ignored overwhelming public opinion in favor of a public option and against a mandate to buy private insurance (and even greater numbers of Democratic voters who held those positions) doesn't seem to have helped the Democratic Party. Nor did continuing Bush's Wall Street bailouts, appointing past architects of our economic destruction to run our economy again or continuing Bush's War on Terror bullshit.

When are they going to learn, we don't need two corporate parties, and we won't settle for only as much change as their corporate donors won't be offended by?

It is clear that the Democratic Party and even Obama would rather lose public support and even elections than bite the hand of the financial elite.