Just 36% of Americans View Democratic Party in a Favorable Light

Just days after losing control of the Senate to the Republicans, the Democratic party is having a bit more dirt kicked on them, courtesy of new poll results from Gallup.com.

According to Gallup, the Democratic Party's favorability rating is currently sitting at an all-time low of just 36% (Gallup started conducting this poll back in 1992). That is down from a favorability rating of 43% at the end of 2013 and 61% at the start of 2000. Many Americans have turned their backs on the Democratic party in recent months and this cost the party more seats in the House of Representatives plus control of the Senate. The Democratic Party is now desperately hoping that they can turn around the momentum before the 2016 Presidential election.

One of the most worrying statistics for the Democratic party has to be their loss of support from Independent voters.

In December of 2012, 42% of Independent voters said that they had a favorable view of the Democratic party. By the time that voters headed to the polls last week, just 25% of Independent voters said that they viewed the Democratic party in a favorable light. Their image has taken a severe beating as of late, helped along by a number of different scandals and an economy that continues to underperform.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have steadied the ship following a public relations fiasco during the federal government shutdown of 2013. The shutdown saw the Republican party's favorability rating sink to an all-time low of 28% (it has since recovered somewhat to 42%). After the shutdown ended, the Republicans resolved to stop using the debt ceiling as a means of extracting budget concessions from the Democrats and instead elected to focus their attention on pointing out President Obama and the Democrat Party's perceived shortcomings (the botched rollout of Obamacare, immigration, foreign policy). The move worked and the Republicans reaped the rewards in the midterm elections.

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The Democratic Party has experienced some MAJOR ratings swings since President Obama first took office in January of 2009. The question now becomes - can they turn things around in time for November of 2016?

Source: Gallup.com - Democratic Party Favorable Rating Falls to Record Low

Filed under: General Knowledge