Just more than one-third of Democrats are optimistic about the future of their party as it attempts to recalibrate after losing the White House and the Senate in November, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.
The Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 35 percent of surveyed Democrats are “very or somewhat” optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party. Another 36 percent are “very or somewhat” pessimistic about the party’s future. Some 29 percent are neither pessimistic nor optimistic.
The optimism of Democrats regarding their party has fallen by more than 20 points since July 2024, when it was around 57 percent.
Overall, only 17 percent of surveyed Americans are optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party, while nearly half, 49 percent, are pessimistic. Roughly a third of respondents are neither optimistic nor pessimistic.
Republican voters have more optimism about the future of the GOP, the poll found. More than half of surveyed Republican voters, 55 percent, are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the party. Around 2 in 10 say the opposite, while another 24 percent holds neither outlook on the GOP.
The optimism by GOP voters about the party has gone up since July of last year, when it was at 47 percent.
A quarter of surveyed Americans are optimistic about the future of the GOP. Around 43 percent of U.S. adults have the opposite view, while 31 percent are neither pessimistic nor optimistic about the future of the Republican Party, according to the poll.
A Washington Post/ABC News Ipsos poll from late April found that 69 percent of surveyed Americans think the Democratic Party is “out of touch,” while 64 percent of respondents thought the same about the GOP.
The AP/NORC survey was conducted May 1-5 among 1,175 U.S. adults. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.
