Internal Poll Shows Some Bad News for the Democratic Party

“Dems’ own polling shows massive brand problem ahead of 2026,” read a Tuesday headline from POLITICO. While the midterm elections historically tend to favor the party opposite the president, Democrats fared much better than expected in 2022 with President Joe Biden in office. That may be because, as former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) offered, the White House fearmongered so much on the supposed threat to democracy that Republicans posed. Once more, the same party as the president may perform better than they usually do, especially with how poorly Democrats are doing so far close to two months into Trump’s second term.

The piece references a poll from Navigator Research, which was shared with POLITICO and is to be shared with Democratic House members on Wednesday at their Issues Conference in Leesburg, Virginia ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The write-up shared plenty of damning findings:

Nearly two months into the second Donald Trump administration, a majority of voters in battleground House districts still believe Democrats in Congress are “more focused on helping other people than people like me,” according to an internal poll conducted by the Democratic group Navigator Research. Among independents, just 27 percent believe Democrats are focused on helping them, compared with 55 percent who said they’re focused on others.

…

“The Democratic brand is still not where it needs to be in terms of core trust and understanding people’s challenges,” said Molly Murphy, one of the pollsters who worked on the research by Navigator, a project within the Hub Project, a Democratic nonprofit group. “Even though voters are critical about Trump and some of the things he’s doing, that criticism of Trump doesn’t translate into trust in Democrats. The trust has to be earned.”

Especially alarming for Democrats were findings around voters’ views of Democrats and work. Just 44 percent of those polled said they think Democrats respect work, while even fewer — 39 percent — said the party values work. Only 42 percent said Democrats share their values. A majority, meanwhile — 56 percent — said Democrats are not looking out for working people.

Only 39 percent believe Democrats have the right priorities.

…

But Democrats’ difficulties appear to go deeper. For example, the poll found a whopping 69 percent of voters said Democrats were “too focused on being politically correct.” Another 51 percent said “elitist” described the Democratic Party well.

Even as the write-up goes through great lengths to hit Trump over the head on the economy and over tariffs, that doesn’t change how poorly Democrats are still doing with the economy.

As the write-up also mentions:

That problem for Democrats is compounded by findings that House Republicans still hold an advantage on the economy, even amid widespread economic uncertainty in the early weeks of Trump’s term. In the Navigator survey of 62 competitive House districts across the country, voters said they trust Republicans over Democrats on handling the economy by a 5-point margin, 46 percent to 41 percent. Voters also trust Republicans more than Democrats by a 7-point margin on responding to inflation, 44 percent to 37 percent.

Just 38 percent of voters believe that Democrats’ policies prioritize the middle and working class, while 35 percent believe they primarily benefit the wealthy. Another 18 percent said they’re geared toward the poor. Republicans, too, had only 38 percent of voters who said GOP’s policies were focused on the middle and working class, while 56 percent said they were focused on the wealthy.

“For a long time, Democrats have asked voters to look at their plan, then extrapolate from a list of policies what they stand for, versus telling voters what they stand for, and then voters believe their policies will back that up,” Murphy said.

The data suggests Democrats’ challenges are still “‘what and who we care about,’ and you don’t answer that with a policy list,” she added.

Torunn Sinclair, with the Congressional Leadership Fund (CFL) put out a statement about the poll on Tuesday afternoon, highlighting not only its findings, but how Democrats keep trying to lose.

As her statement read in part:

“The Democratic Party’s brand is in rough shape in the congressional battlegrounds.”

Oof.

That’s the lede of a new report in Politico which revealed what we’ve known to be true for some time: The Democrats are very, very out-of-touch with the American people, and their own voters.

…

So naturally, with their brand in the toilet, Democrats are doubling down on their losing strategy of using billionaires to pay protestors, and shutting down the government if they don’t get their way.

Also on Tuesday, the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, which was largely along party lines. Only Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) voted against it, and only Democratic Rep. Jared Golden (ME) voted for it when it comes to which members broke rank. In the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed that Republicans didn’t have enough votes to break the filibuster, signaling he and Senate Democrats are willing to shut down the government. 

Democrats have also made use of paid protesters, which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) even laughably tried to deny.

On Wednesday, Sinclair also reposted further news on what the House Democrats’ strategy is. It turns out it sounds awfully similar from August 2024, though of course we know that House Democrats still failed to gain back the majority.

Democrats’ 2026 messaging strategy?

Dusting off the same talking points from 2024… when Republicans held the House. pic.twitter.com/bYKd0GpAf3

— Jack Pandol (@jackpandol) March 12, 2025

The poll was conducted February 21-25 and included 1,500 voters. Not only does such a poll paint a largely negative picture for Democrats, but it’s not exactly an outlier.

Last month, Cygnal put out a poll on likely general election voters for the 2026 midterms, which included some very particular warning signs for battleground districts, especially with Trump having made gains with minority voters, such as black men. Such gains were key to his victory last November. “With the parties split more and more by education, black men’s rightward shift means Democrats are hard-pressed to find new supporters ahead of the midterm election, particularly in minority-dominated swing districts,” the poll’s takeaways pointed out with original emphasis.

The Quinnipiac University polls released last month and in late January were none too kind to Democrats. Last month’s poll showed that Democrats in Congress have just a 22 percent approval rating, while 68 percent disapprove of the job they’re doing. That’s a record low since Quinnipiac has been asking this question since March 2009. Even a plurality of Democrats, at 49 percent, disapprove of how their members are handling their job. Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, are at a record high, with a 40-52 percent approval rating. Yes, there’s room to grow, but the net approval of -12 is at least much better than -46.

The poll before that also showed record highs/lows for Democrats and Republicans. The Democratic Party is at an all-time low among voters, with a 57-31 unfavorable rating. The Republican Party, is meanwhile at a record high with a 43-45 percent approval rating. 

Further, earlier this month, POLITICO also covered how the Third Way, described as a “center-left group,” met in Loudoun County, Virginia to discuss how the Democratic Party could improve. The ideas may seem like common sense, but this is the Democrats we’re talking about here. Watch them still fail to head the advice, and thus keep failing. 

There were several sections of takeaways, including “Takeaways on How Democrats Can Reconnect Culturally with the Working Class” and “Takeaways on How Democrats Can Rebuild Economic Trust with Working-Class Voters.” 

Takeaways from the former included the following:

1. Move Away from Identity Politics

2. Emphasize Shared Values and Cultural Alignment

3. Rebalance the Party’s Cultural Messaging

4. Reduce Far-Left Influence and Infrastructure

5. Engage with the Working Class in Their Spaces

6. Improve Democratic Communication & Media Strategy

7. Embrace Moderation, Individualism, and Masculinity

8. Revise Democratic Fundraising Priorities• Move away from the dominance

Takeaways from the latter include the following:

1. Acknowledge Struggles & Speak to Real Concerns

2. Shift Messaging Away from ‘Handouts’

3. Prioritize Simple, Tangible Policies• Advocate for middle-class tax cuts, support public education, and propose spending cuts where needed. 

4. Integrate & Engage with the Business Community• Democrats need to stop demonizing wealth and corporations broadly.

5. Be Pro-Aspiration & Pro-Capitalism in a Smart Way

6. Reform Government & Address Inefficiencies

7. Center Every Conversation on the Economy

8. Engage Rural & Non-College Voters

9. Embrace Populism Thoughtfully

10. Showcase Working-Class Voices & Candidates

Such takeaways were also put forward by an entity other than the DNC. As for DNC Chairman Ken Martin, he’s taken to releasing memos that mostly rant and rave about Trump, while calling on Democrats to keep singing. 

“As Trump wages his war on working families, Democrats will fiercely answer the call to my favorite old union song, ‘Which Side Are You On?’ I’ll tell you what: Democrats are on the side of the worker. We will show Americans every day that workers in fact do have more power than any billionaire,” is how Martin closed that five page memo last month on how “Democrats Will Fight Against Trump’s War on Working People.” Believe it or not, Democrats have taken his advice literally, as Katie covered last week. David Hogg, one of the DNC vice chairmen, meanwhile puts out posts cursing out Trump, expressing the maturity level of someone still in high school.

Of course, the midterms are still over a year and a half away, and Republicans not afford to get complacent. At least for the time being, though, they seem to be in a good enough place, especially when Democrats are flailing so badly.

Fuck Donald Trump and His authoritarianism. Trump needs young people to be afraid and shut down, so we can’t stand up against him fuck him and fuck this administration. No matter what your political leanings are this should piss everybody off. The president is eviscerating our… pic.twitter.com/f9E1hhzK8T

— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) March 10, 2025