Democratic Party Facing Lowest Approval on Record

Over the first weeks of the Trump administration, the focus in the polling world has been on changes in President Trump’s approval, which, in the RCP Average this weekend, dipped into the negative for the first time this term. However, even though Trump’s approval has fallen about 2 points since inauguration, Democrats have some soul-searching of their own to do, as multiple weekend polls found that they are at the lowest approval rating on record.

In a CNN poll, taken March 6-9 with 1,206 respondents, 54% had an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, while only 29% had a favorable opinion, down from 39% who held a favorable opinion in October 2024. The 29% favorable figure was the lowest favorability on record for the Democratic Party since CNN began polling in 1992. The Republican Party had slightly higher favorability at 36%, with 48% unfavorable.

In another poll from NBC News taken March 7-11, the Democratic Party also had its lowest approval on record, with 27% viewing them positively and 55% negatively, a low since they started polling as well.

Perhaps the worst showing was in a February Quinnipiac poll, where Democrats in Congress had only 21% approval and 68% disapproval. Even among Democrats, they had negative approval, with only 40% approving and 49% disapproving. This was also the lowest approval Quinnipiac had on record for Democrats since they began asking the question in 2009. “It’s a sobering slap-down of historic proportions for the Democrats in Congress. Their Republican counterparts take a victory lap as the Democrats try to get their footing,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy added. Approval of Republicans in Congress was 19 points higher at 40%, a record high in the poll.

To be fair to Democrats, approval is rarely all that high. In the RCP Average of Congressional Job Approval, current approval is only at 26.2%, while 62.6% disapprove. The all-time high approval was 37% with 52% disapproval in March 2009, with lows dipping all the way down to 8.4% approval and 84.7% disapproval in October 2013. Since RCP started keeping track, Americans have never been big fans of Congress.

With higher approval of Republicans and their control of all three branches of government, overall views of the direction of the country are still relatively positive. In the RCP average of polling on the direction of the country, 42.6% say the country is headed in the right direction, while 51.1% say it’s on the wrong track. While this is technically negative, it’s a significant improvement from before the election, when only 26.5% said the country was headed in the right direction and 63.5% said it was on the wrong track. Some polls, including one from Emerson College, even have the country split 50-50 on the right direction/wrong direction question.

This more positive view of the country’s direction might not hold forever, though, as questions abound on the possibility of an economic downturn sometime this year, given the looming trade wars as Trump doubles down on tariffs. The uncertainty has hurt both the stock market, with the S&P 500 below where it was pre-election, and Trump’s net approval on the economy, which is now at -7.9 points, with 43.7% approval and 51.6% disapproval.