Gallup has released a new poll today showing that Democrat Party favorability is at a record low. After the brutal midterm elections, only 36% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the party. That unfortunate figure is actually 6 points less than it was before the election. The survey was conducted immediately following the election, between November 6-9.
Some of the post-election decline for Democrats might be because respondents don’t like to admit to pollsters that they have a positive impression of losers, especially a losers of the magnitude we saw on election night.
The Republican favorability is nothing to brag about either with only 42% saying they have positive impression of the GOP. Gallup reports “this marks the first time since September 2011 that the Republican Party has had a higher favorability rating than the Democratic Party.”
Support for the Democrats has dropped not only among Democrats but among independents, which spells trouble for future electoral prospects.
But support for the Democratic Party dropped among independents and among Democrats themselves. Currently, 81% of self-identified Democrats have a favorable view of their party, down from 88% in September and 95% shortly after the 2012 election. Independents’ ratings of the Democratic Party, at 25%, are down 10 points from September.
It remains to be seen if the Democrats will be able to rehabilitate their image in time for 2016 and if bad decisions by the GOP, now in power, will help them with that rehabilitation.
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