BURSTThe Democratic Party’s approval rating remains at a low point, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released to The Hill on Monday.
Thirty-seven percent of voters said they approved of the party in March, just slightly up from 36 percent in February. The latest approval ratings for the party are the lowest since March of 2018.
Thirty-four percent of surveyed Democratic voters and 43 percent of surveyed Black voters, a key constituency within the party, said they disapprove of the party.
"Democrats continue to be seen as out of the mainstream. Their ratings are at record lows and, they will have real problems in the midterms if they can’t lift themselves up from this nadir," said Mark Penn, the co-director of the poll.
The latest polling matches similarly dismal numbers for Democrats found in other surveys.
An NBC News poll released earlier this month found that only 27 percent of voters said they had a positive view of the Democratic Party, while 55 percent of voters said they have a negative view of it. Additionally, 20 percent of Democrats in the poll said they have a negative view of the party.
A separate CNN poll also released this month showed the party with a record-low 29 percent favorability rating. Fifty-two percent of Democratic-aligned adults said the leadership of the Democratic Party is currently taking the party in the wrong direction, compared with 48 percent who said the party’s leaders were taking them in the right direction.
Democrats have been grappling with finding a unified message and new leadership coming out of their widespread losses in November’s elections.
Seventy-one percent of voters in the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll said the party needs new moderate figures to lead the party into next year’s midterms and the 2028 elections.
Earlier this month, discord within the party broke out after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted along with nine other Senate Democrats and one House Democrat to approve a House GOP funding measure in an effort to avoid a government shutdown.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 57 percent of surveyed voters said they approved of Schumer and other Democrats supporting the bill. Forty-six percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of independents said the same.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey was conducted online from March 26-27 among 2,746 registered voters. The margin of error for the total sample is 1.9 points.
Updated at 5:15 p.m. EDT